Regarding the Experiment: Gray's Travels
by ajwf
Summary: Meet Gray: Victim of amnesia, member of a pokémon mafia family, and recipient of pokemon cells which grant him multiple benefits. He doesn't remember anything about his past, but the present doesn't wait for him to play catch up. War is looming as the mafia families become increasingly volatile. With the help of some trustworthy friends, he may rediscover his purpose in the world.
1. Fight or Flight

In the World of Pokemon, there are those who wish to become masters, trainers or any number of different champions. But some have a completely different goal. A war is brewing between Pokemon mafia families. Dropped out of a research facility and into the weakest of the five families, one teen is forced into a situation he has no part of and no business in. But his own goals, his memories and his adventure are all intertwined with the war. How will one young adult, with no memory, take on the world he just rediscovered?

Welcome to the Unknown Adventures of Gray.

* * *

I woke up in a complete haze. It was hard to be coherent after any kind of sleep but I was completely exhausted, even after sleeping, so I closed my eyes again. I figured I would simply drift back to sleep, but sleep wasn't forthcoming. After a while, I forced my eyes open to be blinded by the light around me and take in my surrounding.

The room I found myself in seemed to indulge itself in bright and happy colors. Orange and red streams of paint crossed the wall like well-hung fabric, and some abstract warm paintings accented the room to add a 'homey' feeling. It was hell. The orange, after about two minutes, caused sensory overload. You couldn't focus while staring at it. The red itself was like blood because its color was so deep. A nice contrast, some might say, but it was just as distracting.

Never a fan of the extreme bright colors, I closed my eyes again as the brightness literally forced them shut. I could still see the orange through my eyelids, it's protrusive invasion uninvited in my private world. It would take a couple of minutes to fully adjust to the light, even with my eyes closed, but I was already functioning. I was lying down… It felt like I was on some kind of spring mattress, a couch or bed… And I wasn't willing to roll off to figure out which.

I eventually opened my eyes and took a good look around. The room was still the same bright ugly color, but I noticed the physical aspects. I was alone, no monitors, no screens, no nurses… No others. There were many other beds to represent that others should've been present. It occurred to me that I might've been dead, but I quickly decided against it. Had I died, I would've gone to heaven and heaven wouldn't be this ugly… or solitary.

Frantically, I looked around, trying to find a door. There were none visible. I got up to manually inspect the room for an exit. Moving slowly from place to place along the wall, I looked for seams that would represent a way out. I would periodically knock on the walls to listen for any hollow spots, even to try and kick my way out. It seemed the room was built with very solid materials, and my hand started to get red far before I finished my inspection. It seemed like there was no way out.

"Am I dead?" I voiced. At least I had that left… And then I saw a small paper on the nightstand next to the small bed I had been laying in.

_Dear Subject-197D_

_ The experiment to clear __Terminal Brain Cancer__ was completed at __7:42 p.m_._ on __Sunday_. _You are clear to leave at some point later when you wake up. The experiment may cause nausea, major and severe headaches, coughing, and temporary to permanent weakness in limbs or response time to movement. Dr. __Tortican__ will be with you shortly after you wake. _

_ Severe Headaches? _I thought. _I'm fine… _And then karma struck me, and I started the most intense headache I could remember. The pain was intense enough that, after grabbing hold of the bed, I placed myself into the pillow and tried hard to erase the pain, but I couldn't stop what was internal. It might've been the most intense headache I could remember, but I couldn't remember anything at that point. It felt like someone had stuck my head in a giant electrical socket and turned the voltage up, the pain racing around my head as if it was orbiting. So intense was it that eventually I started to lose hold of my conscious and drifted in and out of being aware of my surroundings. Sleep and ignorance were a blessing, while the pain and alertness were my punishment.

I must've gone into shock at some point. Maybe my body was just physically weak, but the pain was too much. Waking up, I found that my headache was gone, but nothing in the room had changed. There was still no way out.

But fate would just manage to prove me wrong. Soon enough, the center floor area gave way and a small elevator, revealing a small round man in a white lab coat. His bifocals reflected the orange from the wall, disallowing me to see his eyes. His grey hair found itself arranged in a rather odd fashion, in some places sticking out, leaving a rather noticeable bald spot in the middle of his head. In his hands, he held a clipboard and a pen, but he set it down on the elevator and sat in a chair close to my bed alone.

"Dr. Tortican?" I inquired. It didn't feel like anyone else was coming to see me here. And now, what other name would I even remember? I couldn't recall anyone else who might want to visit me, at least.

"Yes. Do you have a name?" He asked. The question came out cold, as if it was simply for recording and nothing else. "We use the number/letter system for categorizing, but I don't really want to address you as Subject 197D." When I shook my head no, he shrugged and continued. "Well, the surgery was… obviously successful, we believe. You show no signs of your body reacting bad to the cells, and they have started to stabilize around the cancer and are destroying it. We'd let you go… But there is one issue."

"I'm the only one who survived and everyone turned into mindless zombies?" I asked sarcastically. A good story, I thought, would always start with someone being the lone survivor of a group turned into zombies. What better way to begin with no memory? "But shouldn't I have given you my name when I registered? I seem to be experiencing amnesia…" I asked, admittedly a little worried.

"No, no… Quite a few were successful…" Dr Tortican replied, immediately correcting my error on the first question. "We just found an… aftereffect in one of the members… She had lung cancer and, when we applied the pokemon cells, base taken from a Wailord… her lung capacity quadrupled. This may sound like a good thing, but the main point is that the cells are interacting not only with the dying cancerous cells, but your own… Which is unnatural. You're free to go in a few days, but until then, this needs to watched to make sure nothing shows up." He easily answered my first question without hesitation… It almost felt rehearsed. He took his time getting to my second question. It was much more slow and deliberate than the scientific answer he gave previously. "Memory loss is… always a risk when dealing with the brain… No, you didn't give us any name… More than likely, if you had, we wouldn't have recorded anything… It may return, but…"

"So, essentially, I could start attempting to eat without hands out of a bowl, or start flopping like a fish on the ground?" I asked. I tried to completely ignore the fact that I had just been told I had no chance of retaining my memories. My question, though, caused the doctor to chuckle.

"Well… If you do start flopping like a fish, rest assured we won't fry you," Dr. Tortican said. "You probably should get some sleep. Do you need anything?" I had a million questions, but something about Dr. Tortican made it clear that he didn't have any answers for me. I shook my head and the doctor nodded, walking away. "If you need anything, we're always listening. Just speak up and… we'll hear you," Tortican added as he turned back on the elevator. There must've been an outside switch because it didn't seem like he did anything to call the elevator.

Then, just as quickly as he appeared, the elevator swallowed him back up.

* * *

I sat on the bed and wondered what I could possibly do for two days… Reminisce? Shrugging, I sat down and started to think about my past... to discover I didn't remember anything. All I could do was blink. Staring at the wall, trying to draw some memory, I thought back to events that must've happened… the surgery… the… the… the?! There wasn't anything else I could think of that must've happened to me. This was one hell of an amnesia case if all my memories seemed to be eluding me.

"I guess I could look at myself for clues…" It struck me that I couldn't even remember what I looked like. I tried to find some reflective surface. On the nightstand next to me, there was a small mirror. Reaching for it, I thought about all the implications… I didn't know who I was, and the only thing to judge myself by was my own appearance. Did I really want to see myself? Curiosity quickly overwhelmed any anxieties about seeing my face. I could see my body perfectly well, couldn't I?

So I steeled myself and looked into the old hand mirror. I almost dropped the mirror. Was this a trick? The person staring had black hair, just down past his neck, but it was rough and messy. I would say it was dirty, but though it looked like it should've been, the hair had no visible signs of dirt. The bangs were cut short, showing signs of it having been cut by someone, as the forehead had a mighty scar crossing on the left side where the surgery had taken place. The face was wide with shock. Grey eyes. They were remarkably empty… A nose that looked like it was made for glasses, having a small knock where they could rest easily.

I looked down… my t-shirt was green, just like the man in the mirror. That… that shell was me. Empty, even the eyes… MY eyes… showed signs of recognizing nothing. It was too much… I didn't know anything about myself, and here I was, in a strange place with no memory. I felt tears swelling at my eyes, but I wiped them away. If I wasn't going to remember anything about myself, I'd remodel… rather, model… myself to be someone to be looked up to… even when I was looking up to myself. The old me wouldn't have cried…

The surgery… I had brain cancer… how had I ended up there? I closed my eyes and tried to remember. The memories were slow, drawing forth like molasses, but eventually the events washed over me, bringing the full spectrum of senses… More a hallucination than a memory.

_The whitewash rooms were impossible barriers to cover. I was supposed to be asleep; they had me under anesthetics. But no… I was awake. I couldn't feel the pain… Couldn't even tell why I was here. An overwhelming sense of hopelessness seemed to wash over me for no reason. _

_Suddenly, I felt something, like a new presence. It passed as quickly as it came, and I felt even more tired than before… And more hopelessness. The doctor in front of me started to mouth something to those around him, but I couldn't hear anything. I would've strained to hear him if I could bring myself to have that kind of self-awareness, but I did not have the control required to listen._

_ The first words I heard came from a nurse standing near a monitor, its lines beating rapidly, monitoring my pulse. "Will he survive, Doctor? The cancer is at stage 4. If it so much as spreads at all… He's dead."_

_ "Not now! More anesthetics! He's starting to stir!" A quick nod from the nurse, and my mind started to slip away again._

* * *

I awoke in a sweat, realizing I had actually drifted off to sleep. The lights in the room were dark, and it was suggestive that I should be asleep.

Unfortunately, I wasn't tired. I never enjoyed going to bed early… _How would I know that?_ It dawned on me that it could be simply a random thought, but I accepted the statement as true. I had nothing else to go on, I could slowly be regaining my memory.

With the extra free time, I explored the darkened room. The only source of light, a small lamp, seemed to illuminate the whole room, as those ugly orange walls magnified the seemingly meager light to a much larger scale. The lamp cast a dull orange hue, leaving a lot of shadows behind and magnified my feeling of being alone. I could still tell no one was around me, and now I had only the darkness and my own meager thoughts to keep me company. For what could I think about? I walked around the outside of the room a couple of times, and then thought about how the old doctor came in. If only I could get out of here, it was sooo boring pacing in this ugly room.

Moving to the center of the room, I found the faint outline of the lift he had used to enter. Such high-end people, using their expensive technology on lowly me… I couldn't figure out what I was to do. So, I stomped on it, hard enough that a good shot of pain went up my leg. Surprisingly, the ground dropped out beneath me as the lift went down. I found myself on my stomach when the lift findly stopped, having not been nimble enough to keep my balance. Oops.

Looking up, it was apparent that I wasn't going to learn much from where I stood. The elevator was apparently placed at the edge of a long corridor, to which I could see no lights placed anywhere. My eyes had adjusted well, but I struggled to make out the walls less than a couple meters away. No art, color or designs seemed to be placed on these walls. In the dark, they appeared completely barren. So, figuring I was in a restricted area for patients, I decided to explore a bit and try to slip past any workers or cameras undetected.

There weren't any twists or turns in this darkened hallway, so I crept slowly towards the end. Very slowly. Three minutes later, I was barely ten meters from where I had started. Every step was loud, echoing far longer than I would have liked. I guess it worked both ways, right? I'd hear them at about the same time they'd heard me. But nevertheless, I was very cautious.

I slipped into a dark room, the quiet hum of computers and the soft blue light of their screens lighting the room ever so slightly. There had been no other doors on my way towards the end, and so I had no choice but to choose this room. I didn't know A THING about computers, but I figured that one of these nasty machines had to be logged into already. As fate would have it, the first one was… Out of the twenty plus machines I could've chosen, the very first computer was logged in. How could I be so lucky? So far, I had activated an elevator with stomping (and tripping) on it, heard from no one at all and found a computer logged in, with no security or human presence in the room. Well, where was the exit sign to the outside…

Yep, it was there. But why did this look so easy? A standard exit sign with a red backlight stood a little to my right… Granted, it probably exited into another room, since so far, I had found this to be a fairly small facility. But even so, wasn't there supposed to be more security?

_Or you could just be paranoid… I mean, didn't they say you were free to go in a couple of days? Why would they expect you to run off?_ It felt like a whole different conscious arguing with me. So, I argued back. _Well, an elevator that goes down as soon as you stomp on it, no people around even though he said I was being monitored… Nor any cameras? How stupid… It's asking for me to escape. _

I looked at the computer in front of me, and read into what I could find. It was 2:13 a.m., too early for anyone to be up or anyone to be coming to work. I had some time. Should I stay or go? _Go! _The first voice, the one I didn't seem to control, shouted. _Why stay here? There is nothing here for you! _But I resisted the temptation to jump out of my seat and run out the exit. _I just had cancer! I can't leave. I should stay until they release me, make sure I'm fine. And anyways, if it was this easy, I can get out at any time._

I focused back at the computer. Somehow while I'd been off thinking to myself, a window popped up, showing layers of script… But the last few lines were different. Traditionally, the lines above had a green checkmark; probably representing they were cleared and operational… The last couple of lines had a yellow squiggle next to them… As I watched, both turned to green checks and two windows popped up. I shook my head… How did that happen? I didn't remember pulling up this window… And it looked like a basic computer when I had arrived… But somehow, I got the feeling that I had caused it, even if I didn't remember it.

Both windows seemed to be controls. One was a view of multiple areas of the hospital, supposedly through the cameras. The other was a list of operations of controls for the elevator… Apparently, tapping on the elevator with both feet planted a foot from the edge was set to engage the elevator to activate. Easy, controllable, and perfectly understandable… But why?

Unfortunately… They weren't quite as easy to operate as I expected. Within twenty second, I hit my first stroke of bad luck. I managed to set off an alarm. Some window popped up on the computer telling me to enter the access code or in thirty seconds an alarm would sound. So, the alarm was definitely about to blow. Time to move.

"I can't leave yet… I had cancer… But, then again, that's what they're telling me. For all I know, I never had anything. I can just explain this as a mistake!" I exclaimed, finally getting ready to go back. Twenty five seconds left. Then a thought occurred to me, the argument I kept avoiding. "Why is it so easy if it wasn't some disease? Doctors aren't here to kill you off, generally. And if they were, there would be higher security… Or I could've just died from this cancer." Fifteen seconds left!

There wasn't any time for making a decision anymore. Before I could finish weighing my options, my legs started moving for me and I rushed towards the door. I stopped for a moment, and started searching through a medical cabinet, grabbing medicine that I thought could be useful. I didn't know the use for all of it, but that could be solved later.

"What are you, slow? We're leaving, now!" I didn't exactly recognize the pitch of my own voice. It was raspy, and the vowels all sounded like long 'A's. I felt like I was growling at myself. "This place isn't here to help you! They haven't helped you yet, we're leaving, now."

The alarm sounded, a high pitch screeching going through the whole hospital. I bolted, hoping to find a way out. This was no time to overstay my welcome.

* * *

The one thing that anyone should know about mysterious facilities owned by people in lab coats: Expect alarms everywhere. The alarm was a high-pitched buzzing that screeched out through the long corridors. It must've triggered some lights, because the hallways were really bright and easy to see down. They were a cream color, unlike the room I had previously inhabited. At this point, I was racing down hallways on adrenaline, not even sure the way out. Each hallway led to another one, and eventually, they started to look the same. I had to stop and think something out, but my body was on overdrive, running like crazy, in no particular direction. I was just along for the ride.

A lot of doors I tried had locked themselves. Or maybe they had been previously locked. But while I was stuck in these hallways, I felt like I was being funneled a bit.

More or less, I knew some part of me was running on an almost instinctive fear. Alarms, being loud noises, are something to be avoided. There seemed to be no more reason for me to take off, and surprisingly, that was fine with me. Run until something good happened. Like the smell of rain. For some reason, I could smell rain. I ran towards the smell, running into more dead ends. I backtracked many times, realizing that the air ducts above were carrying the smell. It had probably been four minutes; I was running out of time.

The air ducts. They were the obvious answer. Though the entrance was covered and screwed down, I figured I could drag the down simply by my weight. The roof wasn't that high up, so I calmed myself and readied myself to jump. I grabbed the duct's metal covering easily enough, but that was the easy part. Well, would've been easy, but I wasn't able to catch myself as I fell to the floor with the air duct panel. A small drop, but the second time in probably less than an hour that I had lost my balance.

I needed to get in the air ducts still, though. This part was made tricky by the fact that I was probably not going to simply pull myself up. Luckily, there was a handrail made of thick plastic for disabled patience. Boosting myself up on the little surface area available for me, I was able to get a much better angle into the air duct. At this height, I could reach my hand into the duct itself, so I wasn't all that far away. The smooth metal didn't offer a great amount of handholds, so I jumped. I jumped high enough that my waist was inside the air duct, and so it was a simple task to plan my arms down on either side and hoist myself up.

The inside of these metal air ducts are very small. I had to crawl to move through. I wasn't claustrophobic, but the crawling would slow me down. By now, voices could be heard entering the hospital, but there didn't seem to be any specific idea of what was going on. I continued on my relatively flat journey towards the scent of rain. Eventually, the ducts turned upwards steeply. I though my escape had ended. Instead, I came face to face with another metal screen when I stood up. Bracing my legs against the back wall, I pushed this screen out of the way. It was much more difficult, but these grates weren't really built to withstand human force prying them out.

I stood six floors above the ground on the ceiling of a building. Interestingly enough, there were some large metal spikes adorned on the sides. The building overlooked a small town, but this wasn't terribly concerning at the moment. I could see flashing red and blue lights below and people milling about. These people, though, seemed to be in no hurry. Still, I couldn't go into the town. Looking around, I saw the mountains looming to my left and a large forest to my right. The forest was much closer, and so I decided to head that way.

The service ladder was placed behind the building to make the building appear more presentable. Carefully looking down, I was relieved to find no one had cared to check the back of the 'hospital'. I mean, who would expect a hospital patient be climbing through your air ducts?

* * *

_I do love reviews. They give me something to write for._


	2. The Family

Chapter 2: The Family

* * *

Getting to the forest had been easy. Traveling through the forest? Not so much. I did make it about 300 yards in before realizing that I was completely lost and exhausted. The foliage was pretty thick where I was, and nobody was going to find me, so I had settled down for a brief nap. Well, it might've been brief. I don't think I slept for very long, but I couldn't see the sun. The forest was highly dense with foliage, so the bright sun never reached the ground, masking the forest in perpetual dusk. The deep shadows hid me well, but it didn't comfort me knowing everyone else was hidden just as well, or better, than me.

I eventually stumbled upon a well-hidden path. It was disguised under a group of bushes and ill-suited for anything bigger than small animals half my size. It was very evident humans didn't use the path I followed, as I was constantly brushing aside branches and bushes. Many of these pushes had thorns, and I was getting scratched up. I had quite a bit of blood on my green t-shirt. If I kept this up, my shirt would be in tatters.

The wilderness was calm and peaceful, but not always quiet. Often enough, I would hear a call that didn't sound like it was from a bird. Once, I thought I heard a growl. I had been frozen for multiple minutes, trying to quiet myself. The quiet was getting to me, so I decided to talk to myself, purely for company. Not because I was afraid.

"Quite a… beautiful day. I bet the sun is shining and the sky is bright blue. On a day as nice as this, no one would want to attack me. Hell, I probably taste terrible. I mean, one might even lose their memory by eating me. Amnesia is contagious through… raw meat? But, I'd probably taste much better if I remembered who I was, and wasn't completely contagious… or in a dark, unpopulated forest," I grinned. "I mean, I might be someone really important, like a VIP of a golf course. If I had any money, I'm sure I would be…"

"I do prefer my meat cooked well done… I can't help but wonder, where does one find that amnesia is contagious? Wouldn't you forget that after discovering it?" I looked around, but I couldn't find where the muttering was coming from. There was nothing but a couple of large crows.

"Who said that?" I asked. Immediately, I started to worry that one of the scientists from the facility had found me… But there wasn't anyone around in the shady forest. And anyways, a cannibalistic scientist would be way too creepy for me to even comprehend. _"Oh, let me dissect you into real small pieces and have __hors d'oeuvres__!" _Nope! Time to get rid of that line of of the big birds in the trees around me lofted down, his huge wings casting shadows across the already darkened forest ground.

"That'd be me, my boy! Although I can't quite figure out how you can understand me… We both must have a tendency to talk to ourselves, and for both of us, it has served us for the better today!" The giant crow had a mostly navy blue coat of feathers with a white down of feathers where his neck would've been. He wore a fedora hat of the same color. Giving a deep bow, he smiled. "I am called Don Julius. I run these woods, and no one disputes it. So, my boy, who are you, and what can you do for me?"

Staring at this large crow, I could see why he ran the place. Though large, I was easily twice as large as him, he was devastatingly large from what I knew birds to be… or figured they should be.

Finally recognizing he asked a question, I went to answer, and then realized I didn't have an answer for either. Instead of being downtrodden, I grinned, "Next question, please?"

"Cocky now, aren't we? Well. I suppose you could just not have a name with a good reputation and wish to make a name for yourself. You ought to at least get one! So, I can answer the second question for you, if you want!" There was a certain gleam in Don Julius' eyes that worried me a bit. "You see, once in a while, two people meet that are beneficial to each other. I believe we have stumbled across one of these cases."

Before I could respond, Don Julius spread his wings and lofted up to a branch above me. "You, my boy, are in a forest without a pokémon, hopelessly lost, and though obviously not scared, most likely going to die without any help. I could help you get out of here… and maybe even get you going again, a good name, possibly even a place to stay. Of course, you can always stick with me if you find my group… enjoyable." Of course, I immediately wanted to ask what a 'pokémon' was, but the boisterous bird wasn't done yet.

He smiled widely, more with his eyes that with his beak, but his whole face seemed to express a sort of profound joy for the situation he was in. "I, on the other hand, would simply ask you for your services. I have errands to run, my boy! Pokémon can't exactly go and pick up certain supplies! I also am a busy man, very busy indeed! Running a large family, as a family we are, is quite difficult… and the last messenger ended up getting captured by a random trainer. True shame that was…"

By some unsaid agreement, I followed him as he took off into the forest. We continued west. This was fine by me, but there was really no choice on my part. I had no idea where I was, and so I followed Don Julius as he effortlessly navigated through the forest. I guess getting signed into an organization by giant talking birds wasn't that rare then… As odd as it seemed, the whole proceeding of events left no room for questions.

At the same time, the events were so odd, that I didn't really feel the sense of emptiness I had felt so recently. There was someone talking to me, who seemed to want to give me a purpose. I was looking for answers, and this seemed like a good place to start.

"Now, my boy! You probably don't even know where you are! This is the Eterna forest, the creepiest place in all of Sinnoh, or so the humans say. We aren't that bad… Though my secretary, Mismagius, scared away a good-sized group of tourists. You came running out of Eterna city… actually, I believe that's a first. Most people run out of the woods, not the city."

We came to a large picket fence. It was probably six feet tall, made or iron poles and a brick fence, in obvious disrepair. The bricks were cracking and the iron bars were rusting. But, the fence held strong, and while Don Julius was able to clear it, I had to look up and down the fence to find an entrance. The gates had long since been shut, the locks rusted together and a tree growing up right in it's path. My entrance was multiple yards to the left of this gate, behind some bushes, which had eroded away the bricks just enough for me to pass through.

"This is our home. The humans have some name for it, but we simply call this the Family Mansion. You'll find it a little out of shape, but quite accommodating."

The front lawn had been overgrown with weeds and trees, making the path treacherous. Some of the weeds even had grown bigger than five feet, making them easy to hide in. Eventually, we made it to the front doors, which were slightly unhinged. They were closed, but as Don Julius approached, the doors creaked open. At first, this surprised me. Then, a figured shimmered. It was a large chameleon, who bowed deeply at Don Julius.

"This is Lionel, my Kecleon butler. He takes care of most of the family. You won't see him much, but he'll see you. Lionel, this one may join the family. Treat him as a brother until further notice." Without any other words, Lionel gave a slightly evil smile at me, bowed to Don Julius, and disappeared.

Once I finally focused on the interior of the Family Mansion, I was shocked, both by its disrepair and old magnificence. Immediately in front of me were two huge sweeping staircases, aching to the next floor. Directly below was a grand fireplace, which was currently unlit. The brick chimney strutted up in between the staircases. Two hallways extended out to either side of the room, and huge ancient tapestries hung on the walls. Unfortunately, some of the stairs were missing, the purple carpet below my feet showed signs of burns, some of the tapestries had been torn up, and there was dust everywhere.

Noticing my stare, Don Julius nodded. "The Family Mansion is old, as you can tell… Were it not for a bunch of ghost pokémon, the place would've burned down years ago. It may seem like a lack of power to some humans, but for a pokémon to own any human-made structure is rare." So pokémon… Ghosts? Or had Julius referred to himself as one? Why the hell did ghosts exists anyways? All these seemed like extremely inappropriate questions for the time being.

He looked down at me with a stern look. "Now, before I continue, there are two things you must know: The Family is a noun. We are no generic term to use. Respect the decisions of those in the Family as words from whatever God you believe in. If the Family does not accept you, then there is no arguing. The Family is composed of five branches. Each one is named for their original leader. We are the oldest branch, the Murk. The others are the Niard Family, the Kazam Family, the Cario family, and the Persian Family, who currently is the most powerful. Family members bicker, but they forgive. Whether or not they forget…"

"Secondly, I will be needing your help a lot before you officially become a member. I expect loyalty as such that you would show as a Family member. I know you probably feel dragged into this, but it will get better. Now! I shall have Meg take care of you. MEG!" He crowed. A ghostly shape appeared, this one an old purple ghost with a very old hat and dress. She had red mischievous eyes and a crooked smile. Three red orbs hung like jewelry on her ghostly robes. Well… ghosts. My face must've been odd, because she gave me an evil little smile before turning back to Julius.

"Hello, Julius," She answered, throwing any formalities to the wind. Shifting her attention to me, her smile grew like Lionel's had. Those two would be tricky.

"Meg, show him to a room. Any room but 13. You and your devilry…" Meg snickered, and with that, Don Julius turned and left. As he lifted off, he called, "Don't teach him any bad habits!"

Meg's grin faded a bit at that. "He's such a spoilsport sometimes. What's your name?"

"I don't know."

Meg laughed. She didn't seem concerned by my answer in the least. "Fine. I could call you Hue, seeing as Humans seem to have a deep affinity to lamely named pokémon… I used to have a trainer like that. Left him, I did. But… I'll call you Gray! You have weird eyes like that. Your mood also is kind of dull. I don't really like that, but then again, I'm dead!" I smiled just enough to let her know I was still listening. "You know," She continued, noticing my lack of attention, "Pokémon always smile when given a name. Not because they like the name. Nah, mostly we prefer our original names. We just don't feel like being called 'Mismagius' all the time. So, I won't call you 'human' all the time."

"So, why do you go by Meg, then?"

"Oh… well, old habits die hard, I guess," She laughed at her own joke.

"Meg… Don Julius kept mentioning them, but what exactly is a 'pokémon'?"

Meg's expression displayed an expression of shock for an instant before returning to normal. "Pokémon… Well, that would be Julius, Lionel, myself and basically every creature not 'human'. There's a book on it in the mansion's parlor on it… A bit outdated, but it does some justice to someone who hasn't a clue about us…"

She was slowly gliding up the left set of stairs as she said this, and I followed, carefully dodging the missing stairs. The staircase creaked, but held. The hallway was long and dark, with a great and many rooms lining the sides. I could hear skittering, like large spiders or other small creatures. Eventually, Meg got to a door that was labeled unevenly as "26" until Meg flipped the six back to a nine.

"You'll stay here. It's a nice room… no holes in the floor. Yes, you'll like it!" She cackled. "Dinner is in an hour. We'll talk more then." With that, she moved through the nearest wall and disappeared. Sighing, I opened the door to room 29.

Inside, I was pleasantly surprised. The room, unlike most of the house, had a complete floor and ceiling. The room was dreary, mostly dark blues and purples, but it was nice and cool. A small single bed stood in the corner of the room, along with one dresser. There was also a very old bookshelf with dusty books. For some reason, next to the bookshelf was a very old full size mirror, shaped like an oval. Opposite the bed was a small closet. I was very surprised to find inside a fedora, suit and tie along with some other odd outfits. Sighing, I realized this room probably hadn't been used in almost half a century at least.

I noticed a rope hanging above a tipped over chair in the closet. The impression was pretty clear, and for a moment, I was rather frightened of what could drive someone to commit suicide in this room. Upon further inspection, though, I noticed that neither the chair nor the rope had any sort of dust and the rope was in perfect condition, unstressed by weight. Obviously, I was living with a bunch of cynical tricksters.

"What did you expect?" I questioned myself. _You didn't expect anything. That's why you're here. _Oh great. My instincts were talking to me again. Why was I constantly giving myself a dual personality? Was that even possible? I am obviously a Gemini, aren't I? _Don't be stupid. I'm not you. I'd sooner rip you apart then be stuck here. GET ME OUT OF HERE OR I SWEAR TO ARCEUS I'LL KILL YOU. _

The voice vibrated in my head, giving me a strong headache. I sat down on the bed, trying to figure out what the hell was going on. "I can't… I don't even know who you are! Isn't this in violation of a personal space law?"

_Just look in the mirror. Everything you are is because of me. You owe your life to me. The reason you can hear pokémon is because of me! And would you like to see this! _The room started to vibrate as purple energy flowed from my right hand. It fell like a black fog but pulsed outward as it neared the ground. I could hear creaks and groans from the room straining. Turning to the mirror, I saw myself, but I looked completely different. My face was shadowed, the white of my eyes glowed blue, and it looked like my ears had grown outwards, almost like an elf's. But, before I could get a good look, they disappeared. In a flash, I was completely normal, and the energy stopped appearing.

_I don't have all my energy, but I warn you! Get me out. _My voice sounded a bit bratty, like a kid who couldn't manage anything. The dark energy hadn't hurt me at all…

"You can't hurt me, can you?" Dead silence. Chuckling a bit, I decided to get ready for dinner. Apparently, my voice wasn't quite the big baddie he claimed to be. I took a little pride in my slight victory over myself, and then realized how stupid I probably was for it. If all I was came from my split personality's existence, he obviously wasn't worth much if I couldn't remember a damned thing. What was so important about being able to understand these pokémon anyways? He was just bluffing.

* * *

A couple hours later, I was standing back in my same boring room. Don Julius had had some weird berry soup prepared that was a bit spicy for me. Must've been an acquired taste, seeing as the others had no issues with the food. Nevertheless, I ate with Meg, Don Julius, Lionel and a few others. I had been fairly hungry, and there was no other food forthcoming. Plus, I really didn't see an issue with eating next to a giant bird, chameleon, and ghost… This could be normal for all I knew.

Meeting Lionel had been a real 'treat'… One I had no desire to relive, but that wasn't the main point of dinner. Over dinner, I had been introduced to the "Inner-family" and assigned a first mission.

"_Well. It seems Meg took it upon herself to call you Gray. That's fine, since it's nice to have something to call you! I mean, it's probably an awkward process, being renamed… I wouldn't know, since no one ever has caught me," Don Julius began._

"_Anyways, we need you to run a package into Eterna… it has been sitting here for AGES, ever since our last… Oh, you already know. It's to be delivered to a pokémon known as Zorra. She is owned by the trainer Gardenia, the town's gym leader. We can't really operate in Eterna all that well with ghost pokémon, as Gardenia is deathly afraid of ghosts, and I don't leave the forest."_

"_The package will be given to you tomorrow… It's fairly important that you get it to her. Zorra is a contact of ours and not an official member, but she has helped us many times before. I will be sending you by yourself since I don't have any resources to waste right now…"_

After Don Julius was done talking, I had excused myself. I didn't waste much time, hurrying through the dark corridors. When I got to my room, I figured it was probably midnight. I was exhausted and so I fell asleep easily. In one day, less even, I had run away from a hospital, gotten myself into a huge forest, talked to a giant bird and had been recruited by a pokémon mafia… All while not even knowing anything about my past life. I could hold off on thinking about all of this. Thinking meant more exhaustion and sleep played a sweet flute of escape.


	3. A Simple Delivery

I don't own Pokemon, nor profess to.

The first mission for the family is simple, in theory. But no first mission can ever be without complication, and the only easy day was yesterday... though yesterday wasn't easy. Subject 192, now known as Gray to the Family, sets off on his first mission. Perhaps luck just doesn't like someone who's mood could be reflected in their name...

* * *

I woke up early in the morning to find that the sun hadn't even risen. Being that there was no electric light in the room, I ended up stumbling around for a bit before I got going. When I finally got my bearings, I quickly threw an odd assortment of clothes I found in the closet. Eventually, I found a dusty old white polo shirt to wear with a pair of black dress shorts. The moment I finished, Meg burst into the room, flying through the mirror.

"Hello! Are you ready to start? Yes? Good!" Meg was extremely hyper, fluttering around aimlessly, and giggling.

"Why are you so happy? It's infuriating?" Her constant movements were making me dizzy. I waited for her to calm down, but she never did.

"You want to know? You really want to know?!" I muttered a quiet 'no', but she apparently didn't hear. "It's my 1,034th Birthday! AND EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT THAT MEANS!"

Before she could explain what it _did_ mean, she swirled out of the room. I quickly followed, but as I moved to go out of the room, I tripped.

"Hehehe… Watch your step," Lionel laughed, appearing. Typical immature kid, tripping people because they could turn invisible. Rolling my eyes, I got up and continued on, which startled Lionel. "Come back here, you'll need my help!"

Turning, I saw that he was actually carrying two small packages. One was labeled "Zorra" and the other labeled "Gray". The one with the label "Gray" was much bigger, a backpack. Zorra's package was very small and delicately wrapped.

"I shall put Zorra's package in your bag." Lionel hissed. "Now go!"

"I shall put ze bag on ze back!" I mocked. "I go!"

* * *

Just outside the Mansion, I decided to look at what all I had. There were some red and white orbs, some berries, and some spray canisters, but most importantly, there was a map. The map was old and yellowing at the edges, but showed multiple routes through the forest, including the "Old Chateau", "mossy stone", and "forgotten colony". There were marks such as "Sage Tree" and "Eterna city". Surprisingly, from the Family mansion (aka the "Old Chateau") to Eterna was only an hour's walk, or so the map indicated.

An hour later, I was nearing the edge of the forest. Unfortunately, where I came out was familiar. In the distance, I could see the building looming that I had come out of the previous day… It still didn't look like a hospital. The building was black with steel spikes coming off the side. Occasionally, one would crackle with electricity. Hey, maybe large, dangerous spikes of electricity were the norm for hospitals now.

Hoping and praying that I wouldn't be recognized, I took to the streets of Eterna. There was barely any traffic whatsoever. On the street I entered, there were a about five stores and quite a few houses, but only ten or so people on the whole boulevard. Only a couple of the stores had two stories. I passed by a store titled "Flaffy's Flower Shoppe" and was rather surprised to see the building's colors. Much like the little two-legged cotton-covered creature that stood in front of the building, the whole building was pink, black, white and blue. The little creature gave me a look of complete boredom as I passed by.

Towards the center of the city, I saw that Eterna had grown a bit. Buildings with six or seven stories had grown up, and the buildings became more compact. Remembering that I was looking for a "gym", I decided it might be best to look for a group of people who looked like they spent way too much money on protein shakes. Looking in the backpack, I had seen a picture earlier of a weird flower-like… pokémon, if Meg's overview of pokémon was correct. I had come to the realization that Zorra was the one in the picture. She was standing on a grassy field with a lot of young trees. I knew that this was inside a tall building because of the mural on the wall. Next to her, there seemed to be a group of smiling berries, resembling the berries in my bag… Unfortunately, my fruit tended not to smile at me.

The gym itself wasn't hard to find. It was decorated with brilliant greens and flowers all over the place. Banners hung declaring the gym's 'badge' and a few people loitered outside, mostly carrying creatures that I determined to be pokémon, some just spectating. I was about to join them when I saw a person in a white lab coat. The man was short, with jet black hair, and very thin. He carried three red and white orbs outside his jacket, which was completely out of place with the white monotone of the lab jacket. Dr. Tortican had been wearing the same outfit, minus the orbs. I snuck back to the side of the building, looking for a different way in. The side was shaded, since it was still early in the morning, and I decided to slip out of sight.

The alley seemed darker inside than it had at first. In fact, it had only gotten darker as I slipped farther and farther from the entrance. I did so quietly, but soon heard muttering.

"Oh, little girl can't do anything, can she? Don't worry, we two will protect you," someone growled with obvious malice. I turned to look, being as quiet as possible, but I didn't see anything.

"Yep, Maxie, her psychic won't work here. And she can't run. She's just helpless as a newborn eevee!" A second voice piped up.

"But Alex, what kind of people would we be if we didn't help her out of this alley? Come here, girlie… We'll be nice and easy on you," Maxie growled.

A small purple light flashed, quickly illuminating two huge wolves and a smaller animal silhouetted behind the light. The two dogs just laughed.

I slowly edged forward, trying to help the creature away from the wolves, but one of them sensed me. Immediately, both tracked back faster than I could see and stood between the exit and me.

"Another bright one, I see… Sneaking up on us and trying to rescue the princess!" Alex hissed. I backed up until I was next to the shadowed figure. My eyes would still need some time to adjust.

"Now, hold on! I'm not here to get in any trouble! I'm just sneaking around shadily trying to get in the gym!"

"Great," the small figure muttered, "A human… useless." I looked down to get a good picture, but that turned out to be a huge mistake. Maxie lunged at me, and I was too distracted to do anything. He chomped on my leg, causing me to yelp in pain. My hands shot up and my backpack accidentally fell. The contents fell onto the floor of the alleyway, some rolling towards the dogs.

"Damn it, my leg isn't a dog bone!" I cried in pain, trying to stand back up.

What I immediately noticed was the dogs tried to stay away from the red and white orbs. So, scrambling towards the nearest one, I tossed it at Alex. A red light appeared, and he temporarily disappeared. Maxie looked panicked, and I used the opportunity to grab two more, but Alex burst out of the orb and it landed, broken in half.

Wasting no time, the two of them laughed at me, taunting me about my failed attempt to stop them.

"You really are an idiot. The most basic concept will escape you, won't it," The female figure next to me muttered. That comment, coupled with the pain I was feeling in my leg, made me mad enough to throw one of the orbs and cracked her right in the head. I hoped it hurt a little bit; I wasn't in the mood for her insults. The light flashed and she disappeared. The ball glowed a couple of times as it shook violently. Even the dogs stopped to stare at it. When it finally blinked the last time, they laughed. At first, this seemed like an excellent outcome. No more antagonist, just me and… yeah. What had I done? I probably just pissed off two of the nastiest looking dogs I had ever seen. I quickly picked up the shiny orb.

"That was quite the catch… Now, give her here and I won't harm you. It'll be easy, all we want is her, maybe a bit literally. She ran away, and now we need her back. We're not going to harm her…"

Not being completely gullible, I knew this was a lie. Unfortunately, the one that had bit me had cut fairly deep. Effectively, I had no way to really stop them. Then again, I never had a way to stop them. They were obviously pretty fast, as their bodies were lean and almost bony. Looking around, I saw the gym had a fire escape. The latter, was up, as to prevent criminals, or me, from using it to scale the wall, but I could easily throw the ball that far. And, what would they do if I did? Deciding to be a complete dick about it, I grinned to myself.

"You want da ball? You want da ball?" I offered the ball out in front of me as I talked in a superficial tone. "Well, you can't have the ball!" I tossed it up at the fire escape as the two jumped for it. They scowled angrily as the ball landed securely on the fire escape platform.

For some reason, the orb popped open and the annoying twerp popped out again. She apparently was in a good mood, and stuck her tongue out at the dogs as well. Easy for her to feel safe, as she was already out of range from the dogs. When they turned back to me, I felt myself hoisted off the ground, along with all my stuff. The little cat was helping me up with her "Psychic," as the dogs had said.

"You'll pay for this! Next time, the boss will send our Zubats after you! They can fly!" The two dogs watched as I packed away my items, slowly and deliberately, before scaling higher up the fire escape, again slowly, because of my leg. It was an exercise in how well I could hop and climb, and they watched and taunted me, waiting for me to fall.

Doesn't adrenaline do wonderful things to the body? Temporarily, I was in less pain, and so I used that time to climb up the ladder, even with a relatively immobile leg. Finally, we reached the fourth set, since the smaller pokémon had somehow nimbly leapt from bar to bar. Then again, four legs served better to balance on. On the fourth story, the door to the gym was rusty. The small cat-like pokémon simply blew the door off its hinges. Luckily, no one was directly behind the door.

The actual gym was a nice change of pace from the alley. We were on a spectator's stand above the actual gym area, composed of the forest in the picture I had. The gardens were mostly filled with grass and trees, but the occasional flower patch made an appearance as well. No one was up in this area, and so I decided to take a couple of pain pills and see if there was anything I had 'borrowed' from the 'hospital' that would help me. It didn't take me long before I had used an ace wrap as an effective patch to stop the bleeding. Finally, I let myself sigh in relief and relax a bit.

Looking around, I finally got a good look at the pokémon that had been annoying me so greatly. She was small, only up to my knees. Her purple or pink fur was such a dominant feature that only her eyes, the inside of her ears, and a small bead on her forehead had any difference in color. She was cat-like in form, and her long tail split in two towards the end. Her deep purple eyes stared at me, challenging me to say anything. Instead, I decided to adjust my seat and settle in until the pain pills took full effect.

Little did I realize, the pills I used induced drowsiness. As I settled in, I slowly fell asleep.

* * *

Chapter 3 done. Any reviews appreciated. They help on long and cold rainy days.


	4. Fate's Own Game

Disclaimer: I don't own pokemon.

* * *

Once in a while, life makes choices for us. A lot of times, we can find great opportunity in the situations forced upon us... a personal test, you might say.

**Espeon**

I was laying down on one of the spectator's benches, being careful to stay away from 'him', the human.

I couldn't believe myself. First, the two stupidest pokémon in the world had cornered me. Sure, they had chased me for a while now, seemingly without reason other than wanting to abuse me. But I was smarter than that. Hiding in an alley may have disguised me by sight, but I had made a mistake to forget that they had a strong sense of smell. Probably from sniffing each other's ass.

Second, that idiot of a human had caught me! Ugh! Of all the stupid things that could happen, a weak human caught me. There he was, sleeping next to me. I could leave, but chances are I'd run into the two dogs right outside.

It's not like I'm completely against humans. See, the issue is deeper. I was already owned by a trainer.

Well… It's not even like that. I loved my last master, but he left me. In fact, he had bought an amnesia-inducing pokémon when he left, so I couldn't even remember him well. The only memory I had was of him saying "Be safe…", but the feelings that remained. Around him, I had felt powerful. I trusted him and would never go against anything he ever said. But, now I was weak. Those two Mightyena… they had been chasing me all across Hoenn and into Sinnoh. I was lucky to have made it this far. I couldn't help but think it would've been different with my old master.

I was so caught up; I didn't see a new guest invade my personal space. I looked up to see a small pokémon, one I recognized as a Roserade. She seemed normal enough, with her rose-covered hands, but on her face, she wore a black mask instead of the traditional green one. Her presence surprised me, as she had come from my right side, which was towards the door we'd just passed through. It didn't help that she didn't make any noise as she moved… Those kind of people are always annoying. Cats are supposed to be sneaky. Not walking flowers.

"Are you the new runner now? I've been waiting for a while for my delivery!" She asked, exasperated.

"I'm no one's delivery girl," I spat back. My day was just going from bad to worse. Now, I was mistaken for some lowly mailwoman.

"Then, I guess you have no business here. The door… since most sane pokémon open doors, is that way," She remarked sarcastically, pointing behind me.

"What if I was here to kick your flowery ass? You couldn't do a thing to me, with your dreadful grass and poison typing."

She simply smiled slyly, but didn't respond to the point. "I suppose you'll want someone to help your trainer out. I could do that… if you decided to shut up."

"He's not my trainer!" I exclaimed angrily, standing up and getting in her face. "Suggest it again and I'll throw you out that window."

I felt a sting in my neck and my vision… my vision…

* * *

I woke up later in a very familiar place: a pokéball. The standard piece of equipment for any trainer, the inside was always very barren. I could see through the pokéball, as the top part was translucent. From experience, I knew that pokéballs are decently insulated, but luxury balls and the more expensive variants are much nicer.

The trainer was carrying me through a forest. I could see the green on the trees above him easily enough. I wanted to yell at the insolent boy, make him mad, maybe even get him to drop me, but that wasn't going to happen. He couldn't understand me.

What struck me was that he was walking rather normally. His leg was messed up and, had I been the surgeon, I would've amputated it. Along with his other leg. And maybe an arm. But it was still slightly incredible that he was walking so easily.

I felt a like a stalker, spying on him while he didn't even notice that I had woken up. He was completely absorbed in whatever world surrounded him and didn't even bother to look down at me. Fine. Better that way if he'd ignore me, maybe I could pretend that I wasn't trapped in some small prison, wasting away when I should be finding… him.

I remember the girl he left me with. Her purple hair was pretty recognizable. With the appearance of a boy, the woman was actually a feared battler. Salon Maiden, I believe they called her. Well, she already had an espeon… and Annabel didn't need both of us. I didn't get much battling time, because her espeon was very close to Annabel and they communicated well. This left me an outcast… albeit one that was well taken-care of. But I could never share their closeness. My trainer had left me. He took away all the memory I had of him, but I always felt that it was something close to what Annabel shared with her partner.

And thus, I left. I know I probably scared her, but staying wasn't working. It was awkward when I was around, and they really didn't want me, even though they were nice. It had to end.

My thoughts were interrupted by a loud voice outside my pokéball. Looking around outside, I couldn't see who was talking to the trainer, as the trainer's body blocked off a great deal of my vision.

"Well, my boy, how did your first mission go?" The voice asked.

"You came all the way out here to see me, Don Julius? That's awfully nice of you. Well, the exchange went smoothly. She said you already had the payment, and so I headed back."

The one named Julius laughed. "Yes, she's a good client. But I see you ran into some trouble." Julius must've been referring to the idiot's leg. Yeah, that's what you get for catching me, a bite from a rabid dog.

"Yeah… Two dogs attacked me on my way."

"Dogs? Hmm. That doesn't help much. 'Dog' is a category of pokémon, in which many different species are in. Growlithe, Poocheyna, Snubbull, all of these are considered 'dog' pokémon. So, they bit you? Did they have rabies?"

I wanted to say that yes, the two ass-smelling pooches had more diseases than a grimer. But of course, no one would understand.

"I'm not sure. I don't think I'm foaming at the mouth, but I was well taken care of." He gave a decent description of the pokémon, the two mightyena and at least 'Julius' had enough common sense to know the name of the species.

"Ah yes, Zorra is a very nice client. Well, meet you for supper…" Julius seemed to stop. "Hmm, I see you managed to catch something. I'll admit, I didn't expect you to advance that much so quickly."

"T'was luck. By the way, I got something else from Zorra…" Silence ensued as the trainer shuffled for something in his bag.

"That, my boy, would be a gym badge. Treasure those, they are expensive and, with seven more, a sign of prestige. Of course, pokémon don't really need it. Humans really love it." I heard a door creak open. Looking up again, I saw that we were in front of a very large and old building. Sighing, I put my head back down. The two droned on about random things involving their family. I still couldn't see anyone. I was on the left side of the trainer, and the people always managed to come up to his right shoulder.

I figured I'd bother the trainer. I started to think of images I could project into his mind to make him feel bored. Paint drying came to mind, so I decided to constantly project that image. It didn't seem to bother him much, as he continued to converse. So, he could stand being bored easily enough… What about OCD? Feeling especially devious, I projected an image of a leaky faucet into his mind. I smiled when he started to twitch just a bit. Anything to make him feel uncomfortable.

With the added strain of having me project images into his head, he excused himself from the conversation. I laughed.

"Not funny," he said. He picked up my pokéball and looked at me. He was a giant compared to me. I turned around to look at a giant door. Once inside, he closed the door and let me out. I looked around the shady room. It wasn't much. A small lamp illuminated the room at this time, but I could see a couple of lights on the ceiling. A bed, a bookshelf, and dresser stood in the simple dark blue and purple room. I didn't even mind looking in the closets.

"At least Julius told me how to use that… pokeball." The trainer remarked.

"You don't read much," I muttered, noticing the dust on the bookshelf. I knew he couldn't understand him, but it still had to be said. I had found the reason he was an idiot. The titles, ranging from "Raising Pokémon the Natural Way", to "Ruby's Ultimate Cooking for the Beautiful Pokémon" had probably never been touched.

The trainer wasn't even concerned with me, as far as I could tell. He had put the badge and bag on his bed and was exploring the closet.

"I hear you've been in the closet for a long time," I laughed.

"Why must you always be so derogatory? It gets tiring with you. You were actually quiet coming back from Eterna. You and your odd comments. Even Lionel seems mild in comparison to some of the stupid stuff that comes out of your mouth." I was so shocked that he actually addressed me that my mouth was agape.

When I finally caught myself, which was only about five seconds later, I closed my mouth and turned away. "You're still just a stupid human. While I don't understand how you can talk to me, you're still just another silly, insolent human. Now, could you please let me go? I'm on a mission to find someone, and right now, this isn't helping me."

He was silent for a while, and then shook his head slowly. What an insolent asshole. He'd keep me for his own gain. "I'm sorry, but I can't have you go anywhere. And it's not because I like you, quite the opposite is true. You just aren't fit to go anywhere on your own." He remarked.

That comment was like twisting the knife inside me… The fact that he said it with no emotion made the comment even more biting. I just stood silently, staring at him with a silent hate. He turned his back on me coldly and continued getting dressed and changing out of his clothes that had been torn apart. I hopped on the bed and closed my eyes. I tried to appear like I was napping, so he wouldn't think his comment had gotten to me.

He was right, unfortunately. I didn't want to say anything, because… Well, because there was no defense to it. I know that, for a long time, I had felt confidence. A time when those two pooches that followed me wouldn't be nearly enough to stop me. But I couldn't even remember what I had done to stop them. All I knew was that He had led me through those fights.

While I was moping, I could feel his presence behind me. "Would you like something to eat?" Expecting some standard pokémon food, I didn't even look up. Seeing my lack of acknowledgement, he sighed. "The Family would like to meet you. They have good food, as well. And you look hungry."

"I'm not…" I could feel my stomach protest the very words I was about to say. Instead, I got up and looked at him.

Instead of heading towards the door, he tilted his head curiously. "By the way, what is your name? I can't believe I didn't ask earlier. My name is Gray."

"I don't go by anything. Just call me Espeon." He didn't look satisfied.

"I don't think that's going to fly," He said, looking at me rather sternly.

"Why? You asked for my name, I gave it to you, there's nothing else for you."

"You see, I would prefer you not call me 'human' all the time. So, why should I call you something akin to 'pokemon' all the time? You have some other name given to you, don't you?" His curiosity surprised me. While I did have a name, I wasn't willing to give it out so easily.

"And if I prefer not to give it to you?" I asked, sitting down on my hind legs.

"I don't see why we're having such an issue with names. I wish to know your name. You're going to be stuck with me for some quite some time…"

I cut him off. "And what makes you qualified to train me? You didn't fare any better than me against those two ass sniffers."

"The difference being, had I not been there, you'd be the property of those two, probably beaten and raped," Gray stated. He stared at me, waiting for me to decide to challenge him. If he knew the reason I didn't want to tell him, he might drop it.

Shrugging, he opened the door, and headed out. For the first time, I got a good view of the house. It was beaten up, missing random floorboards and some ceiling tiles. Nothing in the house seemed to be in good repair. The old carpet had at some time been red. Now, it was a muddled brown, appearing almost like dried blood. As we got to the stairs, I jumped on the rail to avoid all the missing stairs. On the rail, I was almost as high up as he was. He looked at me as I walked. His gray-blue eyes were rather disturbing, showing signs of despair. Edgar Allen Poe may have been able to justify the "The Tell-Tale Heart" if Gray was the old man. He gave a wicked grin, and I realized I had accidentally let my thoughts slip, and he might've gotten an idea of me stabbing him in his sleep.

Silently, I waited for him to move forward. I would've gone ahead, but didn't know the way. Did I mention I hate being reliant on others?


	5. Dinner with the Enemy

Disclaimer: I do not own pokemon.

We all have secrets. Some are just about white lies we've told. Others are actually deep and meaningful... But what about those that we keep from ourselves? What about those secrets that we just don't want to remember? Not every secret is worth telling, but every secret is one worth hiding.

Chapter 5: Dinner with the Enemy

* * *

Eventually, we got to a large room that was in surprisingly good shape. There was a large table in the room, hinting that this was indeed the dining room. With an assortment of stools and chairs, the table could easily sit twelve people. Sitting at the head of the table was a large Honchcrow. To his right was a Mismagius, chatting happily to the large bird. Gray moved towards the head of the table, leaving a chair between him and the crow. He gestured for me to sit on the other side of the table, next to the Mismagius. Ghosts were one of the types I wasn't typically fond of, but I reluctantly sat next to the cheery ghost.

"Lionel, you're not fooling me today," Gray said, tapping the air in the chair next to him. A hissing sound returned.

"I shall get you, just you wait," Lionel hissed, appearing. The Kecleon had been completely invisible, oddly enough. Not even the small red stripe had been visible.

I leapt up onto a stool next to the Mismagius. It was above the table by just a bit, so I could lower my head and eat my food. Mismagius turned to me. "Well, aren't you cute! You're the most adorable espeon I've seen. What's your name?" Catching a glance from Gray, she smiled. "Rather not tell, I see. We get people like you all the time. 'Oh, I would rather not tell, I won't be here for long.' They generally end up long term guests." She didn't say it as a threat, but I didn't really think their hospitality was the reason that all the others stayed.

"Well, my name is Meg, and that's Julius," She said, gesturing to the Honchcrow. Julius coughed. "Oh, Julius, not everyone needs to be as formal as Lionel and Gray." Turning back to me, she said, "He's technically 'Don' Julius." I nodded, but she leaned in and whispered, "Don't worry, he's just a grumpy old crow. You can call him Julius." She winked and Julius sighed.

"Meg, must you corrupt all the people in the Family?" Meg smiled her crooked smile and nodded. Julius was about to say more, but the food came out. A Machamp and his assistant, a Weavile, carried the plates. Once we had the food, the conversation died as we ate. My food was surprisingly good. They had made a bunch of berry blocks, almost knowing that I was a vegetarian. I mean, I ate fish but that's because they are sub-pokémon creatures. The blocks were sweet, just the way berries should be. Most of them were pink or blue. Generally, psychic pokémon are supposed to eat green blocks, but they've always tasted odd. Plus, I doubt food can make you look smarter anyways.

Once I finished, I looked up from my bowl and watched as the rest finished eating. Meg actually had a little cake in front of her. Julius had… Well, his had been some pokémon, probably a rodent. Lionel had already finished, so I couldn't tell what he had eaten. His plate was completely clean. Having opposable thumbs, he was able to use silverware. Gray was also done, as he was sitting back against his chair, drumming his fingers on the edge of the table. He didn't look that satisfied with the food but also didn't comment on it.

Soon, everyone was finished and the Machamp came out and collected all the plates. Julius was the first to speak up, "Well, it's Meg's 1,034th birthday. We all can tell by the way she was flying through the mansion today. This birthday is special because it symbolizes her 34th year of "Archaism". When a ghost pokémon has their 'birthday', they are generally gain more ability to influence another world, called the 'Dream World'. The manipulative ability increases exponentially on each birthday until the 1,050th, where they are considered masters of the other world and can decide to 'pass on'. Therefore, today is a special day because Meg's own rank has increased to the point where she can manipulate pokémon abilities in this world."

Gray's face showed nothing but confusion, but I understood well enough. Meg had gained the ability to switch other pokémon's inherent ability with one from the 'dream world'. I had come across it in an article of Pokéology Weekly, as scientists had found a Gengar able to do the same thing. The Spinda had learned the ability "Contrary", which made it no longer soundproof. So, this one could do the same now…

"I'm the third oldest Mismagius that is currently free! Were the other two in front of me to quit their jobs, I'd be on the Ghost Council! Of course, ghosts rarely leave the council, so I may have to wait a couple hundred years…"

Julius continued on, taking the topic in a different direction with no elegance at all. His bluntness didn't surprise anyone else, but it was different to me. "On the matter of ghosts, we do need you to… perform another job tomorrow," Julius sighed. He looked rather upset about having to ask a favor. "I generally don't like to negotiate with anyone in these woods…" Julius' voice trailed off, and he looked at Meg for help.

"Hmm… Are you talking about the birthday cake issue? Because you don't have to get another one," Julius shook his head. Meg sighed, "Well, I'm stumped… Oh! Stumps! Trees have bugs and bugs are annoying. Okay." Julius nodded. Meg continued, not even looking at Julius. "There's a group of bugs that live in this forest, led by the Shedinja clan. They, being ghosts, are really annoying to other ghosts because of their rituals. They refuse to see Julius because he's dark and flying. Well, we'd like someone to go shut them up. So, tomorrow, we'd like you to go talk to them." She looked directly at Gray the whole time, waiting for Gray to nod or approve.

"Okay. Anything else?"

His easy acceptance of such a strange quest surprised me. By now, I had easily figured out that somehow Gray was a subject of Julius', instead of the traditional human/pokémon relationship. But he didn't seem to mind. In fact, it appeared he believed this to be quite natural.

"No," Lionel hissed. "But do have a nice sleep. I hear you are quite ze sleep talker!"

"MEG!" Gray exclaimed. Meg smiled deviously.

"Lionel, you aren't supposed to say those things yet! Now he'll try to tape his mouth shut!"

"And now you told him how to avoid talking. Congrats to both of you," Julius said. With that, he lifted off and drifted up through a hidden hole in the roof.

* * *

Back in the room, Gray stayed rather quiet. My internal clock said it should only have been about 9 WST (Western Sinnoh Time). Yet, Gray seemed intent on getting ready to sleep. He glanced around nervously, even though I was the only one in the room.

"Well, I think we should get some sleep," he said, if a bit nervously. I hopped onto the bed, making sure to take most of his space, and closed my eyes. If he was going to keep me around, I'd make his life miserable and steal his bed. I fell asleep fairly quickly, as is per typical for me.

* * *

_I could feel the power. Behind me, my master stood, giving me commands. The opponent, a Gengar, stood confidently in front of me, but I knew I would win.  
_

_ "Thunderbolt!" He said. His calmness was completely otherworldly for how tense a battle should be. But it gave me strength as I rained hell down on the ghost. He tried to attack me, but even when he did, I wasn't even phased. I jumped back and attacked again, ears tuned for any command of my waiting trainer._

_ It didn't take long to topple the Gengar. The trainer behind looked defeated. _

_ "Don't worry, kid. You're already strong," My trainer said. The kid looked up and beamed, apparently forgetting he had lost. "Come back again and you may be able to win." I knew this to be a little bit of a stretch. No one was going to beat me. And I wasn't even his strongest.  
_

_ I looked down and saw my yellow fur… Why was it yellow?  
_

* * *

I woke up, but didn't move. I had had that dream so many times, but at times, I was a Vaporeon or Flareon. I didn't understand the dreams at all, so I ignored them… but they bothered me. They were real, I could _feel _it in my heart.

I tried not to stir, but curiosity on where Gray ended up got the better of me. I lifted my head to survey the room, but Gray wasn't present. My internal clock told me that it was probably 3 WST, which was way too early to do anything. But, the blankets on the bed didn't even appear to have been touched.

Oh well. Whatever was going on, it could wait. Sleep, however, would not. I closed my eyes to return to my dreams.

* * *

**Dr. Tortican**

Some would say they don't know the feeling of victory. Most say they do. People such as trainers consider it a victory when the other person's pokémon are unconscious, but for me, Dr. Tortican, victory is the success of predicting everything perfectly. What I lack in size, and some would jokingly say hair, I make up for a thousand times over in brains.

The young man, whose name was entered under guardian Giovanni de Viridian, had indeed entered with brain cancer… But it had been a purposefully wrongful diagnosis. Giovanni, though, did not care for the fate of the young adult. The man said it was a favor, and all that needed to be done was to ensure the young man's survival. By then, the young man had already been put into anesthetics to start operation, and so I had figured that the man was a perfect experiment subject. We just forced him into a prolonged coma.

I had actually been called Charon a long while ago; that was, of course, when I allowed people to call me by anything but my title and my assumed last name. 'Doctor' will gain more fame than 'Head Designer of Research Technology'. When Team Galactic was supposed to disband roughly a year and a half ago, not only was this jewel of a test subject still under surgery, I had too many willing Galactic faithful. Forget Cyrus and his attempt to disband the organization. Something with this much money?! It would never fall that easily.

Yes… I also realized, though, that the funds we had would not last. And so, I became a 'medical doctor' looking to 'cure cancer'. The pokécell project was a genius creation of my own. The cells of pokémon are perfect for resistance of cancer: They're naturally fast at recovering and the immune system of a pokémon can stand the strong radiation used at every pokécenter. The radiation is actually used to cure diseases as well as produce x-rays of fractures. What a perfect way to cure it! All I needed was some time and I could not only cure cancer, but take the world by force any way I chose.

Giovanni never called again, even after the two years of experimenting with the different ways to implement pokémon cells and the actual creation/surgery. The implementation came when I took the whole collective consciousness of the last pokémon and started to fuse the two piece by piece… The brain is a powerful organ, and so I used a brain that I figured would have a good power, but nothing too strong.

Psychic types that only use their brains would probably create too strong a frequency for the humans' fragile nervous system to handle. Fighting types do not have the collective conscious that humans have. Normal pokémon have too primitive a mind, and poison would kill a body. Bug, flying, fire, water, and grass are all too far from the original form to co-exist in a human body. Water might survive, but the others would be hopeless. Ghosts are impossible to dissect and dragons are too hard to obtain. Steel, rock, ground and ice generally show a lack of collective brainpower or brains. That left to me one real option: Dark.

While I could certainly withstand psychic, dark seemed to be about the only type suitable for surgery. Unfortunately, it took me many tries and dark pokémon to realize that transferring a select grouping of cells wouldn't work. I instead put my second, well… thirteenth, subject into an induced coma and then started to merge the brain. Quite interesting, really. While the math is all too hard to ever explain, suffice to say that both brains react on multiple similar properties. Electronic impulses sent to the nervous system cause the heart to beat. The nerves send impulses that are interpreted by the brain. Well, the dark type's brain only had three lobes, whereas a human has four. The difficulty became finding what was actually comparable to a human brain. Eventually, I prevailed, but I was left with a dead pokémon…

Or, in my eyes, a fused body. From my study, I figured that I was adding either a second conscious or mixed conscious to the human. Why not more? So I continued my work to fuse in and out the most important pieces of each. The regenerative properties of the cells were infused in certain tissue clusters everywhere. The heart, liver, stomach were all combined or switched, and the bone marrow was dug out and replaced.

Well. That's enough of that. I have work to do. The boy has not escaped my eyes, no. He is simply entering himself unknowingly into the maze for me to observe.

He doesn't know it, but he will be pivotal in the rise of Team Galactic. He is my super soldier.

~From Charon's Personal Journal; Entry 731 of the 192 Experiment.

* * *

Thanks for your continued support. I've been trying to keep up with my work enough to continue writing this... I think I'll stick to aiming for an upload every five days.


	6. No Rest for Tired Eyes

Is a task we are forced to do that much different than one we're asked to do? Does the word 'please' change the contents of the task?

Disclaimer: I don't own pokémon.

Gray

I knew it was going to happen. So far, of my two encounters with my seemingly nocturnal self, one had driven my out of a hospital and the second had could've sent me back to it with a fresh set of injuries. So, I found myself sitting in the parlor of the mansion. Having only spent a few waking hours of the mansion, I still had a lot of exploring to do, but finding the old parlor was not hard. I mean, parlors were supposed to be in the same relative area on all older houses. Being basically the room where one would greet guests, I had simply gone to the door and looked for a comfortable place to sit.

Being what I figured to be an hour before midnight, I had grabbed a book to pass the time. It was true, when Espeon said I didn't know a thing about training. And thus, I had picked up the encyclopedia Meg had mentioned on Pokémon biology. A thick book, but it had illustrations and small footnotes to counteract what otherwise would've been long walls of text. I had checked, the encyclopedia was indeed old; it was over 50 years old, but still valuable to me.

Unfortunately, after reading a bit, I realized it wasn't worth much. While it had in depth strategies on how to use all the listed pokémon and how to counteract them, there was no creativity involved. Just simple things, like average pokémon abilities compared and how an 'average' pokémon of the species would compete. That wasn't really going to help me. That didn't matter, though, as I could feel the other occupant of my head waking up. It was a weird feeling, like suddenly my brain was running on all cylinders again.

_What a nice nap… I feel nice and refreshed now! And you… Well, apparently you haven't gotten me a way out yet.  
_

"Well, I was enjoying your company so much, I decided there was no need."

_Ah, fuck you too. _

"Sounds like someone has given up on their death threats. Why so passive?"

_Because you can't do anything. You need to find the man who made you this way. And no, it's not that doctor you saw earlier… All I remember is the guy you need to see was also morphed and he's bald. _

"Are you threatening my hair?"

_Just shut up. I've decided to help you until I can get out of here, because apparently I still can't make you move. Though I've been trying this entire time. Can you please turn the page? I'm tired of looking at a Pidgey. _

The complete change of attitude left me a little off balance. I definitely enjoyed the new outlook by him more than not, but his change of heart had me a little suspicious. Before I could press on, though, Meg floated in… through the floor.

"Talking to yourself, are we?" She giggled, coming to stop a couple feet away from me.

"Eavesdropping again? I would guess Lionel is around as well…" This had gotten weird. I turned the page in the encyclopedia, coming to rest on a pokémon named Piloswine.

"No, Lionel likes to sleep. People who like to sleep are creepy, in my opinion…" She wasn't going to admit to eavesdropping, I could tell. Sighing, I looked expectantly at her, waiting for her to continue. She giggled. "I know you've got some personality issues, but staring at me isn't going to change that. Now… Would you like to know a secret?" I rolled my eyes, but nodded. "There's going to be a war soon. And we'd like you to help us. I'd explain more, but you need to help me with Shedinjas first… Now would be good, if you wanted to go. Please?"

I could hear the door creak open, her encouragement for me to head out. Rolling my eyes for good measure, I got up to leave. Shifting my weight back and forth, I realized that my leg was completely healed, even though Zorra said it would take weeks. Not that I was complaining.

"I'm sorry… but things have recently gotten bad. If it makes you feel any better, we initiated you into the family ourselves… Family ties can be rough. And currently, they're rough. Julius will explain when he comes back home, he's out heading towards Johto for a council meeting. It's a fairly long trip, but Julius has had a great deal of speed training."

The word "Johto" had very little meaning to me, so I shrugged it off. As I walked to the door, I saw that the backpack Lionel had given me yesterday was hanging on an ancient coat rack. The small backpack was really worn down, even more so that I had helped destroy it a bit in my encounter with the Mightyena. The black backpack was probably going to fall apart soon, but that wasn't important.

"Should I get Espeon?" I asked Meg. She shook her head.

"Let the girl sleep. She'd be of little use against these bugs anyways."

Walking outside, I was pleasantly surprised. The courtyard in front of the Family Mansion was really clear, and so the moon and skies were clearly visible on the cloudless night. The dull white light did wonders to the old mansion, cleansing the impurities that would show again in the morning and revitalizing the ancient youth that the building so desperately wished to hold on to. For now, the dark crevices and broken boards were melded into the backdrop, hidden among the remaining structures. The mansion even appeared inviting. Odd, only when shadowed could the place I call home look welcoming.

But, then again, as I was quickly discovering, almost everyone I knew seemed to appear more welcoming when you didn't try to see them for what they most likely were. Mafia was a more civil word for criminal. Zorra's reward was supposedly nice, but I'm sure whatever I gave her was pretty illegal. Julius, as the obvious head of the organization, had a real interesting façade. I could tell that his outward disposition was a complete farce, and that he was more calculating than I could imagine. His first meeting, my options had been join him or lose myself forever in the forest. Looking back, the options weren't at all options. Meg seemed so very happy, and it almost felt genuine, but… Well, to be honest, my lack of knowing what was wrong with Meg made me all the more suspicious.

And then there was Espeon. If Meg's statements about naming were anything to go on, Espeon either had an awful life or had taken some terrible fall. Why not tell me anything about her? Why continuously hold on to this opinion that humans were stupid? Wasn't it pokémon following her around? It sounded like those two Mightyena had been tracking her for a long while. From what the encyclopedia described, she was technically my pokémon, a foreign concept to me, but I knew nothing about her. This wasn't something were I felt like I should try to get to know her. The old statement about how people keep their enemies closer seemed to make more sense in this context. She hates humans, but yet she didn't try to escape when given the multiple opportunities. What was she waiting for?

_Nothing. She knows you were right. She may not be your friend, and may never be, but just like everyone else, she sees that you could be useful to her cause. _A rather cynical thought from my alter ego. Maybe I should name him.

_You could name me, but it'd just be what your mind already knew. After all, I'm no longer a separate entity. My name is Gray, same as yours. _

"And, lak you, ah have all the functans you have. Though, ah have a hard tam speakang yet," All the 'I' syllables were emphasized as a short 'a'. _But, I'd rather not use them. Your muscles are so much different than mine. _

"So, what _was_ your name?" I asked, based off of sure curiosity. I could actually feel myself trying to think. Before there was a return answer, I knew the response. _I have no idea. Memory transfer was omitted during the operation. I am a different section of you, but still you. Not all of 'me' or the original, at least, was needed. _

"Why does everyone have amnesia?" Again, as I asked, I knew the answer. _No one wants you to know who you were… Or at least the people who performed the surgery don't. Probably a good thing. It is really difficult to actually erase someone's memory, but possible. And they did a good job. In pokémon, though, memory is just part of reason. And there isn't enough room for two completely separate brains in this head, so apparently it was removed._

Having been drawn out of my thoughts momentarily by a Noctowl, I jumped a bit at the sudden noise and looked around for the bird. It was probably a good thing, as I had walked past a turn I should've taken a while ago. The trees were shadowing the path, and so my careless meandering gave me no chance to find the correct paths without actually focusing. I backtracked about 200 meters before finding another trail, this one covered in bushes. Having not ever been through the forest before, it would've been difficult to find if not for the map symbolizing a large moss rock opposite the path. Once found, it only took a quick scanning of the bushes to find the path.

From then on, it wouldn't be hard to find my objective even in the low light. Marked as the 'Sage Tree', it was only a right turn from the mossy rock and a good walk North, if the map was accurate. I walked quietly along the dark path, trying to avoid the overgrown thorn bushes on the edges of the trail, and ducking under low hanging branches. It wasn't too difficult, to be honest. But, there was an ominous hum that constantly lowly vibrated from the general area.

_These are Shedinja. They are the youngest, and shortest lived, ghost type, springing forth from Ninjask when they evolve. The pokémon you encounter here are shunned by their Ninjask cousins for being weak. A Ninjask whose shell becomes a Shedinja when it evolves is treated as a god, as it is believed to have cast aside it's weakness. An interesting point, Ninjasks actually cannot kill Shedinja when naturally raised in the wild because Shedinja are only affected by certain moves. How they ended up routing the shedinja is unkown, but most assume a Ninjask who knew a basic flying type move came back and crushed the Shedinja colony once. _

With this knowledge in mind, I continued on knowing I probably had no chance of reproducing a flying move. As I drew closer, one caught site of one. The bug seemed to be angelic, in a way. It's blank eyes, halo, and fragile unmoving wings on its back gave it the look of a small bug god. But, upon seeing me, the shedinja floated away slowly into the woods, melting in without ever turning its back.

_Do not look at the back of one. The black holes between its wings are rumored to capture the souls of those who look at it. Whether or not this is true, I don't know, though dark and ghost type pokémon are supposedly unaffected. _

I continued walking down the small overgrown path until I saw the Sage tree. The clearing it was in was rather small, maybe about 10 meters separation from the other trees to this one, but it allowed for a good bit of moonlight to strike down and illuminate the ground. The tree itself was deserving of the name. It was smaller than the surrounding trees, but branched out widely, almost being composed of multiple different trees. The tree circled around to almost a complete circle, leaving about a quarter of it empty so that one could have a clear way in. Multiple shedinja slipped in and out of the tree from many different areas, most floating with no real sense of direction, and all ignoring me completely.

"Who do I talk to?" I asked, more to myself. Pulling out the backpack, I realized I should've asked Meg. I didn't have any clue about where to go from here. It was so typical, really. Just leave without asking, and assume someone else would know. Well, I couldn't very well go back. I decided to take my chances.

I calmly walked to the tree, trying to not look completely out of place. That was rather hard, seeing as everything else visible floated and seemed to have sworn an oath of silence. Not a sound could be heard from them. When I came to the main opening, a shedinja very quickly blocked my path. It was stoic and silent, as if waiting for me to make the first move.

Minutes passed. I was tense, I had no defense and my only hope of survival, Espeon, was not with me. It was obvious that it saw me, but Shedinja never made a move to start talking.

_We can't wait forever… Let me take over for a moment. _

Not wanting to alert the shedinja, I tried to control my shock. I managed to only raise an eyebrow in surprise of the suggestion. _What do you plan on doing? _

Without giving me an answer, I felt my senses sharpen. My vision grew brighter, the dark shadows receding back into their crevices. I could hear the smallest of sounds, even the slightest hiss of shaking grass.

_Let's go meet the head honcho, shall we?_

* * *

Thanks for the continued support, all. Stick around for a while, and I assure you, I'll make this story worth your time.


	7. Distant Relatives, Closer Problems

Our families can define who we are. Families guide us down our chosen path and try to keep us on the right path. Often, families are composed of biological brothers and sisters. But families aren't always related by blood. Sometimes, the closest to being related by blood is sharing the blood they spilled...

I don't own pokemon.

* * *

Julius

"Julius, how _do_ you do?" Don Al Psy asked. His emphasis was purely for show, and maybe a bit of power. The old Alakazam stood a little hunched, leaning on a finely crafted wooden cane that was probably older than my long-dead dear mother. Al was wearing a black suit, fine silk slacks, and a Hamburg, something you'd never expect a pokémon to wear. But Al wasn't your everyday pokémon: he was Al Psy, one of the original five family heads. While everyone else was in their 3rd or even 5th generation of leaders, Al was still lively.

"Don Al, I see that you haven't aged a bit," I responded curtly. Al was by far the oldest member of the five families. Here at the convention, he was also the most respected. The man was known for his honor and diplomacy, and he was really the only one of the family heads I wouldn't leave for dead given the chance.

It hadn't taken long for me to arrive in Hoenn, where Don Archiard currently resided. The Bisharp was the leader of the fastest growing family, and rumor had it that a human organization had come to recognize their power. This, all the families knew, was a little bit of a show and tell from him.

"Ah, you see, the wine in Johto keeps you younger. You should try it someday, old boy. Now, all that's to wait for is that figurehead from the pussycat family."

I chuckled a bit. "Sir Catnip and his gang of lunatic mousers are out and about with Giovanni, I hear. Causing trouble in Johto again?" Al flinched a bit. The first invasion of the mafia family, better known as Team Rocket, into Johto had left the Kazam family in a bad spot. While the feral feline, Fang, had denied any intention of attacking the Kazam family, the fact remained that the Kazam's suffered from the Persian family's occupation.

"Don't get me wrong, Julius, Johto is a fine place to live. But that catastrophe won't happen again. On a happier note, how is Sinnoh treating you? The Cario family leaving you alone?"

I sighed. "We are not the family that we used to be, Al. I fear that I may be the last of Murk leaders. Our business is down, personnel is down, basically it's just me, Meg and a few others any more. Last I checked, I had an active roster of barely 15. Nothing to the boundless hundreds that the Persian family now has, not to mention two of mine are cooks, and a few untrained."

"Yet the boy…" Al surprised me with his knowledge. That was going to be a touchy subject to bring up later, but him already knowing might make it a bit easier.

I looked around for the other leaders or guards. Al and I had come alone, both with no need for bodyguards. Archiard and the Cario leader, Pharaoh, were both off in another section of the mansion, most likely sparring. They were young and more than a little energetic. "If I didn't know how much you value honor, I'd wonder if he was a spy… He's something special, yes. But I don't know about him, he's yet to really come to terms with what the business is."

"When was the last time your family carried out a hit?" Al inquired. "You aren't exactly the old definition of a 'mafia'. Hell, the last many missions were all smuggling and transporting…"

Before I could answer, Al held up his hand. Al's international symbol for "The bitch feline has arrived". I turned to see Fang walk in with two Purloin assistance.

"Hither be the most glorious of fools and his minions. Stay away lest they feast on your soul," Al stated dryly.

"Or your intelligence," I finished, ruffling my feathers a bit.

* * *

Gray

Standing before a group of bugs, waiting for their verdict probably would make for a great comedy scene. Not this time, though. The bugs were arranged in a semi-circle hovering about half a foot above me. It was a bit annoying to have to look up, but as long as they knew who was in control, I'd tolerate it.

Why was I in control here? Simple: the Shedinja who had pestered me? He had been my ticket in. Amazing how cooperative he was once he saw that I was capable of harming him. Right now, he was in my grasp, where I could threaten the apparent counsel at any times.

The inside of the Sage Tree was actually quite filled with plants. It was almost a courtyard… Well, a very overgrown courtyard. The plants ranged in sizes from knee high to well over my head, making even journeying through a safari in itself.

At this point, I couldn't help feeling cocky, as well as agitated. They were willing to make me wait until I got this little bugger, pun intended. I guess I wasn't the only one agitated though. The ominous hum of the shedinja had increased in frequency, and some shedinja even seemed to move with a sense of urgency. If they could feel fear, the emotion was starting to register with them right now.

"You want ussss," The Shedinja leader hissed, "To stop bothering thissss… Ghosst. Ssshe who daress play foul with our home… And to gain your endsss, you threaten our livesss."

"Are you done hissing yet? You know what I want. You know what I'll do if I don't get what I want. I hear you all have a problem with dark attacks. Would be a shame if someone just happened to have those attacks, and hated you enough to use it…" I stated, staring down the leader.

"There isss but one of you. We are many. Ssshould you attack, some will die, but we will win."

"Really now…" Grabbing my Shedinja hostage, I squeezed a bit, letting my hand start to crush him. Anger was all I needed to trigger the dark power. Impatience seemed to work now, and I had plenty of both. I could feel his shell start to crack, just a little bit. The whole counsel was quiet as they watched the Shedinja in front of me drop, either dead or knocked out. Taking out a pokéball, I forced the bug inside. No one could get at him to heal the creature now.

"So, what do you say? All I asked was that you stop. Now I ask how much you value your own life. Because I guarantee I can get you before you get me," In the back of my mind, I could feel a slight exhaustion. This negotiation had to be ended quickly, lest I be out of energy.

The counsel sat quietly for a while. The only sound of conversation was the faint buzzing, though the frequency was almost too high to hear anymore. I quietly waited, fuming, but knowing I was going to lose a lot of energy if I took action just yet.

I discreetly wiped the sweat from my eyes. The counsel did not seem to be paying attention to me at this time, but I knew that they were talking about me nonetheless. I was, quite literally, the buzz of the hour. As impatient as I was currently, I forced myself to remain calm, to stop my foot from tapping, to not even constantly flick my eyes from place to place.

Eventually, the humming seemed to conclude and go back to normal. "It wasss alwayss our first duty to protect thosse in our care. You, who threaten usss, kill usss, ask that we stop protecting ourselvesss." He hummed, more monotone than ever. "We will obey, only if you guarantee, on your honor, that we shall be safe from the ghossst."

"Then we have a deal." I stated, turning to leave. Stopping, I turned once more. "But, I will come here to hurt you should you lie to me. I hate liars."

* * *

Probably an hour later, I was panting at the edge of the main path and Sage Tree's path, my back to the mossy rock. I was exhausted, but exhaustion hadn't hit me until I completely seemed to lose my grasp on my more 'feral' side.

Breathing heavily, I decided that now was as good a time as ever to see about that bug I took. The shedinja hadn't seemed to care that I took one of their members, or maybe they forgot. Inside the ball, the tiny bug was still on the ground, motionless. Whether that meant he was dead or unconscious, I had no idea. Nor should I care.

I wanted to go back there, to the Sage tree, and kill the leader. I was fumed still that they would push me to my limits, a bunch of bugs, and then think themselves good enough to hold a council over me. Forget worrying about Meg, I was going to be the death of them.

For some reason, the sun had to choose that moment to slip through the branches and blind me. It was annoying that, with all the foliage, the midmorning sun would manage to hit me right in the eyes.

Midmorning? Wasn't that a bit late? I had gone at midnight to deal with those pests, and to believe that over 6 hours had passed was unbelievable. I sat fuming over my bad luck and lack of time management for probably a good half hour, wallowing in my own madness. This only helped my time management become a bit worse.

Before long, Meg came down the path, making a conscious effort to stick near the shadows. I wasn't in the mood for pleasantries, and so I waited. Her grin, though, was larger than usual. "GRAY! You did it! You finally shut them up! And it only took you, oh… I don't know, twenty hours? But who cares, I've lived an eternity, so I've got time to kill…" She chuckled over her own pun.

"Yeah… you're welcome," I said, rolling my eyes.

"Mmhm… Someone was a little assertive, weren't they? Dabbling with things they don't understand yet. Oh well, you came out alive. But cool down, kiddo. Back when I was… younger… yes, younger… well, men used to keep their emotions covered up. Not healthy, but that's beside the point."

She was obviously waiting for me to bite. Sighing, I decided to take the bait. "Well, what _is _the point then?"

Meg blinked hard, trying to remember. Did she honestly not have a point? But, she soon smiled again. "Ah yes. You see, pokémon showed emotion, men didn't. And you're a man, not a pokémon. So swallow your pride, or whatever it is that's got you this way, and get control of yourself. Dark pokémon always have this stupid 'Woe is me' or 'I'm always angry' thing going on. I'm no expert, but considering what you mutter in your sleep, you've got a little bit of an alter ego. You talk a lot in your sleep. Anyone ever tell you that?"

One of the hardest things to do when you're angry is just stop being angry. I tried to stop, I really did. But whatever was making me mad didn't stop. So, as I got up to head back with Meg, I quietly fumed. It would take a little while to calm down.

But, between the bright morning, Meg's constant jovial mood, and the lack of things to be angry about, when we finally got back to the Family Mansion, I was smiling.

* * *

Julius

With only five family leaders, each leader one of the strongest non-legendary pokémon ever to walk the planet, you'd think that our meeting would be rather small. After all, it was unheard of for an attack to be made at a council meeting, the attacking party would be destroyed by the other four families.

Well, the pussycat was exercising his power. His forces had become incredibly large and while he was by far the weakest, the incredible numbers that Fang possessed worried the other families… secretly, of course. But to bring four guards… was unheard of. Not to mention that they each happened to be perfect counters to us. Against Archiard was a Machamp. Against Pharaoh stood a Medichan. Al Psy's opponent would be a Weavile. The counter for me was a Magneton. I smiled to myself, knowing that Fang had yet to realize that my counter was screwed if he had to fight me. Al Psy seemed to know something the Weavile didn't, as well. But for Archiard and Pharaoh, Maxie might've picked a perfect counter.

Not only that, but Fang's trainer sat in on our meeting. We all knew his name, Giovanni. The families secretly laughed at Fang for being a trainer's pokémon, but even the most basic pokémon knew Giovanni was no mere trainer. The man was rumored to be able to talk to pokémon somehow. He also had learned to train pokémon better than almost anyone in the world, thus securing his organization's dominance through many years.

Currently, the five leaders and Giovanni had all made themselves comfortable. Archiard again showed his foresight, getting four chairs, a bed for Maxie and a perch for myself. The seating arrangement was simply set in a circle, giving about a 10 foot diameter if the speaker chose to pace while talking.

"Ahem…" Al Psy coughed politely, drawing everyone's attention. Al never stood anymore for these meetings, so anymore he had to use verbal cues to start the meetings. "Let's begin. Thank you, Archiard, for your hospitality and arranging a place for us to hold a meeting. When we finished our meeting, about a year ago now, it was decided that Archiard had all rights to interact with and receive human support, based on the fact that the Persian family has already implemented such a system. It was also decided that by putting in place this system, than any family could use this benefit. From our understanding, the Niard family is now fully moved to Hoenn, and by last count you were looking to the remnants of Team Magma for support." Al looked at Archiard, waiting for a response.

Archiard nodded and stood. He was pretty rigid, as expected from someone both speaking to a council of peers and one who valued discipline so highly. "Team Magma has started to make progress in communicating with us. The current head is a researcher, as the former was arrested after awakening the legendary Groudon. Thus, the equipment needed to communicate with us is almost done. We are sure that a deal can be struck between us, though, from the negotiations communicated by writing."

Al nodded grimly. He knew that the trend might force even the proud Kazam family to have to change. Regardless, he signaled for Archiard to sit down before continuing. "Well then, with this basically solved, is any other family in contact with human organizations?"

I inwardly sighed in relief. The families were duty-bound to tell the truth, and so I had asked Al if we could avoid bringing Gray to light in front of the families. Looking at Pharaoh, I took note that he was frowning, much like Al had been. So no, Pharaoh and the Cario family had yet to look for human help. This was interesting… Pharaoh would definitely be open to a peace treaty if the war Meg was predicting came to light.

"None…" Al said, nodding. His wrinkles, though, only deepened before talking again. "It has been rumored… Well. I have learned of some bad morals from the Persian family recently. When the mafia was put together by five idealistic young pokémon, we stated that there would be a few ground rules no family would ever break. Fang, would you mind stating which of these well-worn rules the Rockets and Persian family are guilty of breaking?"

Fang almost growled. Al could be like a critical grandparent, reprimanding a kid in front of their peers. And it was embarrassing. Fang, like any young child, wasn't going to answer.

"Recently, it was found by one of my aids that the Persian family had indeed tortured a client into compliance… Generally, one or two cases can just pass by with just a warning. Unfortunately, I soon learned that you have been not only hassling clients, but also taking unwilling clients to become members… You know this is unacceptable. You also know the punishment…"

The ominous words hung over the group. While we all were criminals in some way or another, we had rules to live by, rules to make sure that they remained moral, even as criminals. To forcibly involve civilians was well beyond their scope of intent.

Fang was fumed. I knew why. The punishment for any sort of excessive civilian involvement was to require the head to step down for a time. The time was determined by how great the punishment. As an extra blow, the family could not make any profit during that time. "We did no such thing. The Persians would NEVER…"

"A man who now goes by the name of Professor Blaine would beg to differ." Al stated coldly, shutting Fang up. Mental note to self: look into this man.

Finally, the human, Giovanni, spoke up. "Blaine was an old associate of mine… I had some work to get back from his lab."

"You broke into Cinnabar with one hundred men."

"Some things are better left unknown… We all have our secrets." Giovanni responded evenly. "I'd hate to make an issue of it."

"So would I," Al stated crossly. Watching Giovanni negotiate carefully, I noticed he never took his hand off of Fang's head. So it was true: Giovanni had to use his pokémon as a translator… He was rumored by Al to have been the son of the Viridian forest itself, one gifted with special powers. What a scary man…

"Three months. Three months where Fang will step down as head of the Persians and be replaced by the second. The profits made must be directed to the local gym and pokémon league charity sponsors."

Al knew the second part was of little meaning to Fang. Giovanni and Team Rocket generally controlled the local gyms near all Persian headquarters. It was expected, though, that 50% go to the Pokémon League Charity. The group was a family favorite, picked because they had no involvement with any specific family and basically lived to harbor pokémon. Fang's profits might hurt from that a bit, but the punishment wasn't nearly as biting as it could've been.

But Fang wasn't happy about stepping down. We all knew this. Al probably had a spy sitting around in the upper ranks of Fang's group who would ensure that Fang did in fact step down, making this punishment far more effective. Giovanni caught Fang's anger and stopped his pet before Fang could make a fool of himself. "We accept," Giovanni stated coolly. Al nodded in appreciation.

"Now, on to any other business that the other families wish to present."

* * *

Thanks for the reviews and support. This chapter was a little more politic-heavy, but there needs to be some inner-workings for the story to continue.


	8. A Grand Quest: More Walking

Adventuring, questing, and exploring all have been seen as some grand romantic journey. Conquest and war, as well as a simple life-changing sunset, are all just common reasons why adventures are so loved and exaggerated. The trials and tribulations which are so sought after, though, are brought to bear on sore feet.

I do not own pokemon.

* * *

Espeon

Waking up generally takes a while. Once you know you're awake, you don't want to do anything for a while. So, I sat staring at a blank wall for a while, before searching for a clock. Surprisingly, in this drab room, there was a small wall clock. I was rather surprised when I saw it was late in the morning. Even being tired from all the action yesterday, oversleeping was not something I generally did.

"Morning, sunshine." I looked up to see Gray sitting on a chair that hadn't been in the room before. I rolled my eyes before getting up and stretching. I took my time, not only because it felt good after a long sleep, but to get an idea of what Gray was up to.

He yawned and stood up. "I'm going to guess you're hungry."

It bothered me to no end that he was trying to seem like he wasn't doing anything. A person I had just met, waiting for me to wake up so he could ask if I was hungry? I was perfectly capable of manipulating the door, though he might know that. But that still didn't answer why he was doting over me.

But I was hungry, so I just nodded waited for Gray to open the door. He did, and I took off ahead of him towards the dining hall. Of course, I ran into Meg at the bottom of the stairs… or through her, I guess.

"Someone is rather excitable today! Sprinting out like they've got somewhere to be!" Meg laughed. Her joyful demeanor seemed out of place in the bleak mansion.

"Tis to be expected of the young ones," I heard Lionel hiss. I couldn't see him, but apparently Meg could, as she looked at the empty space right to my left.

"I was going to eat," I responded curtly. I figured it wasn't going to end this conversation, but I had to try.

"Sure, sure! You'll need to eat up for the adventure you're going on today!" Meg exclaimed, ushering me towards the dining room. The reaction reversed our positions; I was looking to talk longer for answers and Meg was excitedly ending the conversation. But it seemed once Meg set her mind to something, there was no changing it, and so I continued towards the dining room. Maybe I could get something out of Gray… preferably by force.

Surprisingly, the food was already set when I arrived. I quickly took my spot and started to eat the berry cubes set in front of me. Equally surprising was the fact that the cubes were green today, a more preferable type for me.

Gray arrived shortly after. He looked completely exhausted and I was reminded that he hadn't been in the room when I woke up. He sat down, his black hair rough and unkempt. I swear his face couldn't have gotten any closer to the table as he started to eat slowly. His meal, I noticed, wasn't anything like human food. The berry salad he had was probably more suited for a herbivore than a human, but he didn't seem to be bothered. Or maybe he simply wasn't awake enough to complain.

I finished my meal within a few minutes of sitting down to eat, but it took Gray another ten minutes to pick through his food. The silence seemed very awkward to me, even though he never looked up.

"Meg said you were going somewhere," I started, prompting him to finish and fill me in.

"Let me finish eating."

It was annoying, but apparently no one wanted to tell me what was happening. For whatever reason, neither Meg nor the annoying kecleon ever came into the dining room, making Gray the only one able to tell me anything. When he finally looked up, I was still staring at him waiting for an answer.

"Alright. Enough with the death stare. I haven't slept at all and I really don't want to put up with you. We're going to a place called 'Sandgem Town', somewhere a little south of here. Why? Ask Meg. Apparently, there's some guy with green hair preaching about pokémon rights that we're supposed to talk to. He's organizing a protest in two weeks outside some famous professor's laboratory. We'll meet him there. I have a hand-written note sealed for his 'father', I guess. Now, I'm going to sleep. Enjoy yourself."

With that, Gray left the table and headed back to his room. I suppose he stumbled up the stairs and had a rough time of it, judging by the loud crash. He deserved it. He already made the decision that I'd be going with him, as he kept saying 'we're', even though I wasn't interested. Before I could leave, however, Meg decided to appear.

"So! How about your first big adventure? You excited?"

"No."

"Don't be like that! I remember when I went exploring once; it was a truly wonderful experience." Meg lowered her voice to a whisper, "Now, you realize that he knows nothing, and I mean nothing, about pokémon. Doesn't understand what a pokémon type is, move, or ability. He's never seen status effects, or anything involving attack and defense shifts. This means that it's up to you to teach him. I hope you do a good job, he is rather useful."

I wasn't fond of this idea at all. Wasn't he supposed to be the trainer? Why was I the one dumped with the responsibility here? There were far more worthy trainers out there. "I'd rather not," I stated coolly.

Meg's face went from cheery to downright frightening in a blink of an eye. She leaned in close and whispered, "You'll help him learn because he's the only reason we haven't killed you yet. You think a sassy kitty has any place here? If anything happens to him, those mightyena that were after you will be the least of your concerns. You'd wish you were their bitch after I'd done pulling out your entrails. Got it, kitty?"

(Line Break)

Gray

Night came a lot sooner than I expected. Meg had come to wake me up at precisely six o'clock, saying that it was best to start just before dark. Lionel and Meg had both been working a bit before my leaving, having somehow managed to find a better backpack. While still black in color, this one had a red stripe placed horizontally. I was told that I'd find more supplies, the map, the encyclopedia and even a bit of money in the bag, but I didn't bother to check. They seemed in a rush anyways.

"You'll not be bothered by anyone in Eterna forest… I made sure of it," Me grinned. "Lionel went and took care of that bug you caught yesterday…"

"A bastard… He completely ignores me," Lionel hissed.

"You deserve it. You were trying to hit him with the flyswatter!" Meg laughed. "Anywho! Espeon has kindly agreed to help teach you about pokémon and in return, you'll train her. Now…" Meg's demeanor changed to serious in an instant, and Lionel retreated a step as she stared at me. "I expect you to treat that girl better than yourself. She's fragile, so protect her. Play dirty. I don't care what you do, but you keep her safe."

I nodded solemnly and Meg grinned. "Who am I kidding? You've already proved that you'll look out for her! Good luck!"

With that, I headed out into the darkening Eterna forest.

(Line Break)

We hadn't even made it fifteen minutes before Espeon started complaining. I had her in the pokéball for transportation purposes, but she didn't seem to appreciate it.

"If I'm going to travel with you, I at least want to 'travel'. This pokéball is too boring. It's dreary in here!" She groaned. Constant, incessant groaning seemed to be a skill of hers. "Why can't you just let me walk? I'm perfectly capable, you know! Or are you one of those 'stereotypical' trainers that just neglects their pokémon but for feeding and battling?"

"Would you shut up? You could sleep and we could solve this tomorrow."

"I'd rather not. I'm perfectly awake right now. It's only six thirty…"

I didn't have any reason to keep her inside, so I reluctantly released her. "If you decide to complain some more, I'll put you back in the ball and buy earplugs," I warned. Without any choice, I simply released Espeon from her pokéball. Surprisingly, she decided to walk silently without any complaints.

The evening itself was rather beautiful. While the trees blocked off a great deal of the evening sky, the late sun's light occasionally touched the surface, casting shadows over the old trees. But more importantly was the sounds. When I had first entered Eterna only a few days before, I had been scared. Now, I relaxed as I listened to the multiple birdcalls and even the occasional loud shouts from a human getting scared. For as 'dangerous' as Eterna was supposed to be, I never heard any screeches of death. Perhaps the most deadly creatures in Eterna were the ones you didn't hear.

I did finally think of the Shedinja. Espeon, as far as I knew, still did not know about my new addition and I was rather fine with that. But was it fear to keep him in his pokéball? To be honest, I didn't really care... what was I going to do about something so stoic it refused to talk, didn't eat, sleep or even breath?

_You probably have no business training him… Shedinja is a 'Master' class pokémon, trained only by those with years of experience. _

Of course, my 'other half' always had an interesting time of popping up. I couldn't really respond with Espeon right next to me. I probably would lose track of where I was if I started a conversation with myself.

_Why don't you ask her about pokémon? Couldn't hurt to learn something. You'll be out of Eterna with a solid day and a half of walking, so you should get used to your companions… including me. _

I continued silently, occasionally checking the map to make sure we were heading the right way. An easy hour passed of the silent walking with Espeon walking a good distance off to my left. She had made it very clear she did not want to be associated with me. Finally, I found a clearing. The trees parted for a good fifty meters in every direction, allowing the light to slip through. The warm sunset was still casting late purple rays across the sky and so I figured there was no time like the present for a good break. Even though I had only been walking for something of an hour and a half, I figured that we would make better progress with regular short breaks.

"Why are we stopping?" Not everyone agreed with my thought process. Au contraire, Espeon seemed rather angry.

"Short breaks make for long walks," I observed. "Anyways, we're barely an eighth of the way through the forest, even using shortcuts. There's no way we walk for over ten hours with no issue. Do you need any food?"

"No. Let's get moving again." Espeon growled impatiently.

I sat down and smiled. "Could it be that someone is nervous? The fearless feline of whom should be striking down flee-ridden dogs, scared of a forest?"

"Bugs are a weakness to me. Ghosts, like that witch Meg, are a weakness to me. Dark types are a weakness to me."

"Dark types… Like the Mightyena?" I suggested. Her ears perked up at that. Anger flashed across her face, and her body quickly went stiff. Then, with a sigh, she relaxed just slightly.

"…Yeah. Like the mightyena," She finished, a dejected look crossing her face. She decided to lay down a good five meters from me.

(Line Break)

Eventually, we made it to a decent clearing to stop. It had to be beyond midnight, and I could tell Espeon was exhausted. Even though I wanted to continue on, Espeon wouldn't stop bickering even once she was in her ball. So, we had to rest. I was rather restless, having only woken up again earlier, but I knew I could sleep again soon. In the meantime, I let Espeon out and waited for her to fall asleep.

Again, we had camped in the open, this time right on a human trail. It was the best option, as human scent tended to make some pokémon think twice before crossing paths.

"Okay. Finally." I grabbed Shedinja's pokéball and quickly released him. The dense foliage muffled the quiet 'pop' of the pokéball opening.

Shedinja had no facial expression whatsoever, but turned slowly to face me. "Iss there something I can do for you, your highnessss?" His voice was mixed with disinterest and a bit of hostility. In fact, the last two words were almost spat at me.

"You're going to be traveling with me. Save me the attitude, I've already got a cat to supplement for any lack of hate we may have. "

"Sssoo, you prefer to toy withh me?" Shedinja hissed.

"I prefer to make this trip comfortable for us both. Do you have a name?" I asked. I figured I would start simple.

"Yes. But you would not hear it. Sssimply call me Ssshedinja."

"Right. So no one wishes to be called by their actual name. I am Gray. Now, do you have anything I need to know?"

"No. Let me sleep. Keep me away from rocks, birds, ghosts like that witch, fires, and you."

Surprisingly, there was no hate in that sentence. Shedinja stated it as a fact, as if it was common knowledge. As I was contemplating, he hovered back to the pokéball and returned himself.

"That's possible?" I asked, hoping for once that Gray2 would speak up.

_No. You are the first to ever witness it. You should report these findings to the Pokémon Academy in Jubilife. _Great, now I had to put up with sarcasm. Sure, it was nice to have a dictionary of everything important in your mind, but at least dictionaries didn't give me side commentary.

_Let's go for a walk. I need to stretch… _

"But I'm fin…" All of the sudden, I was the one riding shotgun in my own body.

_No, I'm not. _'I' cracked my knuckles as I headed into the trees. It would've been an interesting experience, seeing yourself moving and feeling everything as you would've normally, but giving no command for it to happen. Once we were deep in, I felt a dull pain. I looked down, but couldn't even see myself. I could tell where my body should've been, since it was darker than everything around it.

Unexpectedly, I fell down. The world around me seemed to be getting bigger at an alarming rate until the tree sizes seemed to double. Getting back up, I recognized the now-usual effects of changing; My vision sharpened and my hearing vastly improved. I licked my teeth in anticipation, only to find extremely sharp canines.

I hadn't realized it earlier, but the forest was absolutely alive at night. Even though I had heard some nocturnal predators, I could now see the occasional flash of fur as prey ran from their predators. I could hear the distance yelps of surprise and pain, representing another pokémon falling to its predator, and occasionally a howl of dismay as a hunter lost its target.

_I haven't had a chance to hunt in AGES! _ The changes were seemingly complete. Suddenly, I took off, charging forward at an alarming speed. I was still a biped, but I used my arms as support so I could sprint hunched forward. The speed was beyond anything any human could accomplish, and had it not been for my heightened senses, I would've had a concussion within seconds. But I dodged around trees effortlessly until I was satisfied.

"Hmm? Is someone there?" The sound came from up ahead, through some dense bushes. "Oh, it's just you, Peter!" I took a deep breath. Rabbit, definitely some of the small many buneary in the forest. I crept closer for a closer look. Two buneary stood outside a large barrow, completely unaware.

_It'd be fun just to scare them a bit! _I mean, who was I to disagree? It sounded like fun…

* * *

Thanks for your continued support.


	9. Our Own Worst Nightmare

We must pay for the mistakes we make. This is only right. But, we are all bound to make mistakes. This is a fact of life. But if the ones who are moral always pay for their mistakes and the ones who aren't don't, is it really right? Life may not be fair, but life seems to benefit the cheaters.

I don't own pokemon.

* * *

Gray

"Hello? Hey you! Wake up!" It couldn't even be morning yet and I was getting bothered.

"Go away, Espeon… Can't you feed yourself?" I mumbled. I didn't even bother to open my eyes.

"Well, I hardly think I sound like a pokémon!" I opened my eyes in annoyance, mostly to remark that yes; Espeon did look like a pokémon. What I found was a girl standing over me, Espeon snickering behind her.

"Hello! Can I interest you in hearing about our dear Lord and Savior, Arceus?" She started cheerfully. Without waiting for a reply, she started into her preaching.

Wiping the sand from my eyes, I got up. The girl was just shorter than me, with long curly blonde hair that flowed down below her shoulders. Her blue eyes almost glowed as she talked about this religious cult she was in. In fact, her whole face glowed. She wore a sun hat made of straw with a baby blue bow wrapping around the top, complementing her blue dress that traveled past her knees. The dress seemed to be styled after some far-distant relic of the past, like the dressed your grandparents might have. I didn't know modern fashion, but I would assume she wasn't following it closely at all.

After a few minutes of preaching, she stopped and took a deep breath. "So, did I convince you of the wonders of Arceus?"

"No… but you certainly tried," I sighed. She couldn't have been older than sixteen… Which I assumed was younger than me by at least a couple of years. It'd be rather dangerous for her to be in Eterna by herself… In fact, it was beyond dangerous.

"What? Even after hearing how Arceus created all the pokémon world for us and how he presides…"

"Is any of this true?" I asked, shooting a glance towards Espeon.

"Of course it is!" The girl stated. Espeon, on the other hand, didn't seem so convinced.

I just shook my head, not feeling the need to argue it with her. "How are you getting through Eterna? And why are you even out here preaching anyways?"

She looked incredibly hesitant to answer either question. Sighing, I started walking. It was going to be a long day, and I needed to get moving.

"Where are you going? It's a little rude to leave in the middle of a conversation!" Her face got red and I could tell she was quite angry about my blatant disregard.

"I'm going. I have to get to Sandgem Town. I'm going to be walking for a good full day to get through this forest and so I'd like to get there before dark." I signaled for Espeon to follow, and she quickly stepped out in front of me and started ahead of me.

"Well… I'm going to Jubilife, so maybe we can travel together?" She asked hopefully.

_Jubilife is a large city on the way towards Sandgem. Don't embaress yourself, it's on our path. _

But another thought had occurred to me. "You don't have any pokemon, do you? You're trying to mooch off of someone else to get out of here."

Instead of a shocked expression, she laughed. "No, no… I have my faithful companion with me! She picked up a handbag that she had apparently set down before rudely waking me up and pulled out a pokéball. "Come on out, dear," she said, pointing the ball away from her. Surprisingly enough, out came a rather large pokémon, which appeared to be a white flaming horse. _A ponyta… Not a horse. _

The ponyta shook it's head, sending embers all around her and causing the girl to jump back. It bucked and took off running, leaving the girl by herself.

I looked over at the girl, who refused to look me in the eye. "I can explain," she started. She quickly returned the ponyta to it's pokéball. "The ponyta, Dreamer, is not exactly… mine. I took it from my family's barn and took up traveling… But Dreamer doesn't like me much, so I have to keep her locked away."

"Why would you leave your family?" I asked. The idea of leaving people who knew you and cared for you seemed foreign to me.

"My family doesn't believe in Arceus, the God of All. So I left to find a place that would appreciate my religion… And perhaps even find Arceus himself!"

"I'm not sure I even want to put up with this. You're so incredibly stupid. You leave your family, steal their pokémon, then run into a dangerous place to preach about this fictional God to some guy lying on the ground, sleeping. I'm gone." I continued on my path, but she just started following me.

"You make it sound like I did something wrong…"

"You did." I interrupted.

"Here me out! I'm Lucy Stone," She started. Noticing that I didn't register the name at all, she continued with haste. "My family owns the Devon Corp, the richest business in Hoenn. We used to vacation in Sinnoh at a small exclusive place called the Valor Lakefront, so I got to explore Lake Valor often. I was looking for Azelf, one of the mystic guardians of Dialga and Palkia, rulers of time and space! I never found Azelf though, so now I'm heading to Lake Verity to look for Mesprit. I'm on a pilgrimage!"

Well, her conviction was definitely present, and I could tell she wasn't lying. Whether or not she was fanatical or not was a completely different issue. I really didn't want to travel with anyone, as any companion would make talking to my pokémon counterparts harder, as well as representing more mouths to feed.

"Ms. Stone, I really do not see any benefit to traveling with you. I am on my own humble adventure with Espeon here and another adventurer would simply get in my way."

"Can you fight? Fight me," Lucy said. The question was quite startling, why would a young girl care if I could fight?

"I'm not one to fight a woman," I responded slowly. "Causing physical harm to a young girl would bother me."

Lucy covered her mouth to stop herself from laughing, but I could still see her giggling. I stared at her, not quite understanding why such an honest statement would be seen as humorous.

"You honestly thought I was referring to US fighting?" She laughed, dropping all pretenses of giggling. "I'm not even sure if you're joking or if you actually are that naïve! I mean, you look smart enough, but wow! You even have a pokémon and you'd assume that a fight would be between us! Now, seriously! If I win, I travel with you. If you win, you get to decide your group's status. Your espeon against my ponyta."

I looked at Espeon for help, but she just shrugged. She had this smug grin on her face, as if taunting me for my lack of knowledge. I groaned inwardly. _Help? Please? I haven't the slightest clue on what to do…_

Lucy moved back into the clearing, putting an easy 30 meters between us. The trees weren't going to bother us at all, but the grass was about knee high here. She brought out her ponyta, who started pacing anxiously. "We're going to battle, Pumpkin! Please listen this once!"

Espeon stepped in front of me and purred. "I guess that I'll be waiting for your instruction, 'General Gray'. Remember, I need you..." She started chuckling quietly to herself, knowing full well my predicament.

"Alright!" Lucy exclaimed. "Let's start off now. Pumpkin, use flamethrower!"

I kid you not; the horse spat a stream of fire at Espeon. Espeon danced to her left, easily avoiding the attack. "Come on," Espeon taunted. "Tell me to do something! I dare you! Oh, you don't know my attacks? Hmm, such a tragedy!"

This strategy of dodging while I silently stood there wasn't just frustrating me, it frustrated Lucy. She couldn't understand why the mess of flames didn't seem to hit Espeon. "Pumpkin, flame wheel!" Pumpkin charged directly at Espeon, and this time the ponyta's body was completely covered in flames. Espeon again dodged out of the way, but this time received a small singe mark from a random ember. Pumpkin circled around and prepared for another charge at Espeon, all the time searing the ground.

The ground, which started as wet grass, was drying. I knew immediately that Espeon would lose this battle if the grass started to light up. Again, I mentally pleaded with my inner encyclopedia to help me.

_What now? Oh, a battle… And that little feline is messing against a ponyta. Well, shouldn't you be winning? Ponyta is a stage one pokémon, whereas Espeon is a stage two fully evolved pokémon! _

"Ha, you don't even know how to battle! All you do is dodge!" Lucy exclaimed. Pumpkin struck closer this time, coming through with straight charges. The singed ground was starting to smoke, and Espeon was finally beginning to realize the danger she was in.

_Here… I hate to do this, but you're not going to get a crash course in battling. _I felt him taking over as I stretched. "Espeon, use psychic," I croaked. The vowels all sounded like a long 'a', but Espeon responded. Her expression was full of shock, but she didn't complain. A blue aura surrounded Pumpkin, and I noticed the red gem on Espeon's forehead was glowing a bit. The ponyta stopped dead in its tracks, and the fire refused to flare out. In fact, the flames stopped moving altogether.

"Lift et!" I ordered. Lucy stared, shocked to silence as Pumpkin was hoisted into the air. Pumpkin stopped moving up after about five feet, which surprised me. _The old book stated that a ponyta only weighs about 66 pounds, but the real weight is ten times as much. To even get five feet is fairly impressive for a cat that weighs closer to ten pounds… _"Drop et."

Pumpkin fell like a bunch of bricks to the ground, but luckily fell on its side. Had the ponyta landed on its feet, the heavy weight would've broken the legs. Unfortunately for everyone else, the flaming mane set off the charred ground into a blistering flame.

The flames spread quickly to where ponyta had run and quickly trapped Espeon. There wasn't any brush for the fire to continue for long, but the heat was very real. Flames surrounded Espeon. The seared grass was burning a small flame, only about a foot high at the tallest, but the close quarters gave Espeon very little room to work with.

"Sand attack. Cover the flames with dirt." Espeon seemed to look rather angry, and I quickly realized why. She dug her paws into the ground and started shoveling dirt onto the fire. While this strategy was largely effective, it was dirtying her paws. Eventually, the nearest fires were subdued and the remaining too far away to bother her. I looked over at Pumpkin, to see that it was still not getting up. Lucy had ran over to check on her pokemon and was currently examining the side Pumpkin fell so heavily on.

"… You win," Lucy stated slowly. "But now, Pumpkin has a broken rib from the fall, and I am without another pokémon. Will you take me with you now or leave me to die in Eterna?" So I won… but I lost anyways.

_Women are terrible, aren't they?_

* * *

The path I took from the clearing was in relatively good condition. Humans traveled this path often, and so there were even occasional road signs. Of course, the forest still never revealed the sky through the overgrown canopy, but nonetheless, travel was a little less thorny. Lucy was walking next to Espeon, who was leading the way and still trying to stay clear of me. I had decided to take advantage of the relative silence and had fallen back a couple of meters. We had roughly traveled two miles in peace before Lucy realized something rather important.

"Hey! What's your name? I was so caught up in trying to trave- battle you that I never asked." She said, turning around to face me.

I rolled my eyes. "Really, you were willing to travel with a stranger in the middle of a forest, not even knowing my name? Let alone, I'm older than you and you don't want to contact your family. Shouldn't you be a tad bit careful?" I mocked.

"I forgot to ask!" She stopped walking altogether just to stomp her foot.

"You'd probably just forget my name as well." I continued walking past her, avoiding Espeon's subtle attempt to trip me.

"You're such a bother! It's a common courtesy to introduce yourself. We're going to be traveling together for at least a couple of days, and what would you want me to do, not address you at all?"

"Yes, that would be great! And speaking of common courtesies, waking people up when they're trying to sleep is not one of them."

"You could've been in danger! Sleeping in a forest isn't smart!" Lucy shot back.

"Just tell her already, Gray. You're being annoying," Espeon chimed in. She was pacing by Lucy's side, obviously showing that she cared more for that random girl than me. Typical, lazy, useless, feline.

"Says the queen," I muttered. "Fine, my name is Gray Murk." I used the Family's name as my 'last name', seeing as I couldn't really think of anything else.

"What an odd name… I've never heard of such a bleak name. Did your parents not like you?" Lucy inquired. It didn't even come off as rude, but all I could do was stare at her, my mouth agape.

"Oh, they hated him," Espeon laughed. "Oh, I love this girl. We're definitely keeping her!"

* * *

Don Julius

"And so let us conclude the last day of our meeting. Thank you, Archiard, for providing this place of shelter and thank you for the wonderful food and drinks. The next meeting is with me, of course, in Olivine City. I will see you all in six months," Don Al concluded.

This last day had been uneventful, as had the rest of the days. With only five of us being 'leaders', the heads mostly ate in pairs or with their own guards, should they have any. Only Archiard and Fang had any guards, and Archiard dined with Pharaoh. The talks had been on profits and missions carried out, to make sure that everyone was donating properly. While the other families seemed to be making hefty headway in the amount of money made, my family was still barely turning a profit. I might be the last of the Murk leaders should this continue.

But all was not well, even as the leaders and Giovanni started to get ready to go. It happened so fast that I almost missed it. Fang twitched his ears forward and suddenly the room exploded into chaos. Those pokemon brought to counter us swept in, each finding their targets in an instant.

"Fang, you treacherous punk!" I yelled, looking at the magneton in front of me. It was hovering infront of me, but I was faster. So, I prepared to blast it with a heat wave, my hidden move for it...

Until Fang hit me from the back, showing his fake out. I was trapped when the thunderbolt hit. I was done for, that one hurt. I looked up to see Pharaoh and Archiard trapped as well, back to back but with no real chance against Machamp and Medichan. I watched as the machamp hit Archiard with a dynamic punch, sending him spiraling. Pharaoh tried to use close combat on the medichan, but the psychic type shrugged the hit off and returned fire with a psychic, dropping Pharaoh as well.

Weavile was squaring off against Al Psy, but he was having none of it. At first, it was ice shards being stopped by psychic, but Al soon revealed his ace. He pointed his middle and pointer finger at the weavile and unleashed an incredibly bright signal beam, obliterating the weavile. Unfortunately, the weavile had more weaviles as back up, all of which started charging at Al. They were extremely fast, but Al was faster, as he stung multiple targets until there was just one weavile. Al attempted to teleport, but Weavile's claws struck through a void and crushed him before he could go. The weavile snickered as Al staggered.

"And now Al is down… Down for good," Fang laughed, looking at the leader. But Al just smiled. He put his fingers to the weavile's head and blew it clean off.

"After 70 years as the head of my family, you'd think youngsters would respect me. This is war, Persian family. And remember your focus sash next time," Al stated. He disappeared as a Clefairy walked into the room and used sing. A mafia war, and three families were already down…

* * *

Gray

"Gray! Look at this!" Lucy was slightly off the path, leaning over some knee-high bushes. Her eyes were watering and her face was in shock. As I walked over, I saw a bloody mess of bodies. Two buneary adults were gored on the ground, their blood smeared all around the surrounding grass. The carcasses had only been nibbled at, as if the predator never got his full meal.

"Help?" A weak voice came out from inside the small bloodstained den. Lucy must've heard the voice as well, as she carefully leaned down. Surprised, she pulled out a small buneary, probably barely weeks old.

"I'll save you, poor thing…" Lucy whispered.

I turned away, disgusted. _Well boy, you can't win every battle, not even with yourself. It's life, the weak die, and the strong feed on their flesh. Get used to it, I'm not going to end up like them. Even if it means they die for me._

* * *

_Thank you for reading._

All mafia family heads are extremely powerful (Fang appears weak, but he's still an avid fighter). Al, though, is on a different level that will be revealed and expanded on later.  



	10. Give No Ground

Is it really the fights that make our relationships stronger? Some might believe a struggle against another challenge brings people closer together, but can't two fighting each other tear them permanently apart? We must take care to care for those who care for us, for on our last day we'll long for absolution from all the wrongs we've caused. Will someone listen to your cries for forgiveness?

I do not own pokémon.

* * *

**Dr. Tortican**

There is no reason to suspect that Subject 192 should have any delays on his development. More interesting, though, is his current quest to meet the fanatical Team Plasma. The man in Sandgem town he is scheduled to meet goes only by the name N and has been a political activist of equality for pokémon for as long as his name has been known. I have heard that they plan to assault the Sinnoh professor's lab. For what reason, I do not care. But, by then, 192 should be struggling as he discovers his altered form.

It is in my best interest to observe a high-stress situation while the subject undergoes the maturation phases. Unfortunately, I cannot be present as I may well be recognized by the subject or by any number of people who might mistake me as a criminal. How unfortunate that people do not understand my studies.

On another note, the pokémon all around the world are becoming restless. The pokémon have not declared war for many, many years, but apparently Giovanni decided to spite the pokémon. I have not the slightest idea his problem; with such an organization, you would think he could happily sit on his money. My own organization is growing… oh, but the pokémon mafia, they are far overrated. Due to the so-far success of 192, we have started to create more soldiers. Unfortunately, their success so far has been… less pronounced. After this war, however, the world will be weak and the possibilities are endless.

~From Charon's Personal Journal; Entry 735 of the 192 Experiment.

* * *

**Gray**

We had gotten to the edge of the forest, but I decided not to push any farther. Actually, Lucy was complaining of sore legs. She had been carrying the buneary the whole way, but the small brown pokémon wasn't all that heavy to begin with. Unfortunately, as I had learned from the constant stories she told, Lucy was a magnet for the poor, broken and disturbed. She couldn't resist the beady eyes and sad stories.

Tonight's resting spot was a rather large riverbank. Eterna's forest didn't shelter the early evening's moon at all. The moon itself was just beginning to wane, so the light provided was going to be phenomenal tonight. I had started a small fire with the use of some branches and Pumpkin. Never having fished in my life, I figured it would be best to simply use the rations provided by Meg.

But even after the meager meal I provided, I could sense a great deal of division in my small group. I was definitely apart of this, as Lucy didn't know anything about me at all whereas she seemed to talk endlessly about her life. But there she sat slowly feeding the young buneary, leaving Espeon and myself secluded. In fact, Lucy didn't even trust Espeon to be anywhere near the buneary, claiming that Espeon was too dangerous for the young pokémon.

Espeon and I hadn't talked at all during the day. I had long found that most humans couldn't understand pokémon and it was obvious Lucy didn't understand Pumpkin at all. Espeon still would make multiple sarcastic comments, but I just couldn't respond to anything she said. We had both ended up by the fire, and by some unwritten compromise, we had been completely silent.

"Espeon, is there any reason you wanted me to lose so badly today?" I asked, now that we were away from Lucy.

"What? Me? No, I'd never want you to lose!" Espeon mocked. She rolled her eyes and laughed. "Meg forced me to work with you. But I still don't think you're worth much. I think Meg probably told you the attack name, and you just used it on a weak pokémon like ponyta. And you froze up during battling, so I'm guessing you have no skill whatsoever. Why am I forced to travel with someone who doesn't benefit me at all?" Espeon asked, letting her anger slip into her words.

"Well, perhaps you could find it in you to at least tell me what you can do! I hardly can work with someone who doesn't want help. Tell me, how strong are you actually? Can you even do anything but one attack and dodge?" I shot back, trying to keep my voice down.

"Ha! As if I was only limited to one attack! What do you offer me, though, that I should tell you the rest of them? Nothing! There's nothing here for me and I'd very much be gone if not for that witch."

"You'd fall right into the mightyena's claws if you left. And you know what, this time, no one would show up to save you. How would that suit you then, spending every day with those two idiots? What about your freedom then, Miss Sarcasm?"

"Who the hell are you to bring that up every time we talk? What do you want, a golden star? I'm sorry I couldn't stop them myself, and I'm incredibly sorry that I had to have you get involved because now I'm stuck with you. I might even have been better off with them!" Espeon ended, yelling. She gave me one last look of disgust before taking off into the forest, leaving me speechless.

I sighed, not knowing what to do. All I had wanted was to know her other attacking options. I had survived on my alter ego and he had fallen silent after the battle, apparently sleeping. I had no way to learn about the predicament I was in, as no one seemed to want to help me.

"What, are you just going to let your espeon run off like that?" Lucy asked as she walked over. "Generally, a trainer doesn't cause his pokémon to run off in fury and I've never seen a trainer do nothing about it after the fact. So what gives?"

I wanted to say something spiteful and had to work hard just to contain such a stupid comment. The worst thing I could do was alienate everyone around me. But how could I possibly explain Espeon's complex pride without letting on I understood pokémon?

"Espeon is frustrated… we haven't been partners very long and so we have problems all the time," I said. I scratched my head, trying to brush away the awkwardness of this conversation.

"Well, what does she say?" Lucy asked.

"How should I know? Do you understand pokemon?" I was a little shocked by the question and completely overlooked Espeon's telepathy.

"For someone who supposedly doesn't understand what his Espeon is saying, you two sure have quite the heated debates. You were talking rather heatedly just before she ran off," Lucy pointed out.

"Espeon can use some telepathy…" I started to explain, but Lucy would have none of it.

"Telepathy only works with ideas and pictures. Not words. Admit it, you're able to talk to pokemon," Lucy stated.

I was stunned; there wasn't any reason she should suspect that I could take to Espeon. The silence was as damning as the spoken truth, and there wasn't any point in lying now… Somehow, Lucy knew.

"What? You didn't expect me to notice? Every time Espeon would say something today, you responded by your facial expression. Just because you don't talk to each other blatantly doesn't mean I couldn't figure it out. So seriously, what did she say?"

"Unreal… I'm not sure why I even brought you along," I said, shaking my head.

"I've seen people who can talk to pokémon before. The Devon Corp is working on translator equipment so many people were hired to help translate…"

"Like who?" I asked. Knowing names could possibly lead to my own history and even though I wasn't actively pursuing it, I knew someday I'd want to know about my past.

"Tell me about your conversation with Espeon first."

"You might want to sit down, though. Is your buneary fine? This is a rather complex relationship, if you really want to hear about it." If only I could avoid this conversation. I wasn't supposed to involve anyone else with my mission and I really didn't want more complications in my life.

Lucy sat down, silently letting me know I wasn't going to get out of this by stalling for time.

"Fine, if you really want to listen to a boring summary… I met Espeon while I was running an errand for some relatives of mine," I started slowly. Well, it wasn't a lie, at least. Lucy didn't know I technically worked for a criminal organization.

"She was being attacked by some mightyena who wanted to capture her and use her as a forced mate. I managed to save her, but I caught her in the process, a mistake I am starting to regret. She wanted me to let her go free, but I decided that it was in her best interests to keep her. She's been trying to bother me ever since, mostly to spite me. Anytime I try to talk seriously, she always says that I can't help her. I have to use the fact that I saved her because, in all honesty, I can't really benefit her. You saw earlier, I've never been in a pokémon battle before. Just now, I had been trying to learn what moves she could use and we got into our ongoing argument."

"So, you and I aren't all that different after all. I've been having issues with Pumpkin now for weeks. I'll help you solve your problem if you can translate for me on why Pumpkin has been so consistently upset. Give Espeon some time to be alone tonight, nothing should bother her."

* * *

**Espeon**

Why am I so weak? From the day I was born, I should've been strong, having been born into a species with the most potential of any pokémon and having evolved into a psychic type. But now, I was chained to a human.

But it wasn't his fault. I was the weak one. I had been trapped, and I had been caught. Like a traumatized child afflicted by nightmares, I couldn't escape my fear that I was indeed everything I dreaded. I was truly weak.

My weakness to dark types wasn't just a weakness anymore. I was genuinely immobilized by dark type pokémon. I could see them everywhere. Even around Julius, I had been rigid and afraid. But those mightyena still haunt my sleep. The night before, I had heard them growling at me, trying to find me. All I could do was cower.

And it hurt to say, but Gray was right. I wasn't fit to be out in the wild. When a pokémon returns to the wild, they're outcasts. Wild pokémon hate you because you're 'soft' and a 'pet'. I had been running for almost a year now, and I still wasn't accepted by wild pokémon. Maybe they were right. But right now, I didn't want to see anyone. All Gray does is rip at my flesh, igniting the scars that I've received from those two bastard dogs. I couldn't trust anyone like Gray because he can't protect me. There's only one person in this world that can protect me, and I will find him. Even if I have to start running again.

So why did I feel so proud when he finally issued the attack command that defeated Lucy today?

**"N"**

A man is judged by how he treats others. Humans no longer own each other and none can command another one unfairly into battle. So why do we own pokémon? Humans once believed that slaves were acceptable and out of spite, collected humans as trophies. Now we simply continue this disgusting practice with pokémon by trapping them in a small ball and labeling them as our own. Trainers travel the world adding to their 'collection' of these creatures they call their own, only to send them to a research facility far away where the pokémon will be in a jail far removed from their own natural habitat.

Worse yet, man pokémon are solely used for battle. Pokémon die every day from overexertion and fatal wounds. Where did the creator of this world, be it Arceus or some other entity, say we had the right to command pokémon to their death?

Due to Devon Corp Pokémon Communication technology, Team Plasma has been slowly working to communicate with pokémon to achieve our ultimate goal of pokémon equality. While the Dream World project had failed us, I wasn't ready to just accept these cruelties done to pokémon. In a few days, with the help of a small pokémon 'mafia' group, we shall attack one of these research facilities where thousands of pokémon are held perpetually as lab rats. Some even die in their pokéball from old age. This had to end and my organization finally had the backing from the pokémon.

Many people don't realize it, but the reason pokéballs where invented was not for allowing pokémon and humans to adventure together. The sages told me of a time long before us when the Great War started. The great lands had a dispute about what religion reigned supreme, whether Arceus, Mew or at that time, a human polytheistic belief termed "Fifth Season's Dawn". The great lands became extremely divided when the Church of Arceus attacked a small missionary settlement of  
"Mewmon". War sprang up fast, but humans didn't have the weapons of today. So they turned to pokémon to do their bidding.

The pokéball was technology so advanced for the time that it was considered magic. It had only been developed a year before the war started, so only nobles could own pokémon as pets. These pokéball quickly became mass-produced and humans went out to recruit armies. The pokémon in each nation were being caught at alarming rates, and even the 'elder' pokémon had no answer to this plague. Hence, the birth of the pokémon mafia. Still alive generations later, the pokémon mafia killed humans who tried to capture those pokémon entrusted to them. Of course, the pokémon were protected for a fee and those who couldn't or wouldn't ask for protection generally found themselves the unfortunate result of captures. Now, though, they would help end the plague of human capturing pokémon. Finally, I could see my dream fulfilled. A world of peace and harmony is dawning. Fortunately, between night and dawn, there must be a fight for control that dawn always wins.

If you want, since I know your views have changed recently due to an encounter with a 'pokédex holder', I would be willing to talk to you in person after freeing Roark's lab pokémon. There seems to be another war starting because of Rocket's leader, Giovanni. He attacked the pokémon mafias very recently and now threatens to cause the war which brought about the advent of the pokéball. Obviously, we need to stop this war from happening. If you know any who you can gather to help stop this war altogether, they're welcome to attend as well. Choose a place and time, and I'll do my best to meet you in person.

~A letter addressed to "Cyrus" from "N".

* * *

_Sorry about being so late. I just had a rough time writing this chapter up in particular to make it seem somewhat natural and still get somewhere. My mind is ahead of me by about 20 chapters, so it's hard to write this one._

_Read and review, thanks._


	11. Past Dreams Drive Our Future

Memories of our past often leave of feeling embarrassed, excited, or even saddened. What we remember never seems to be a perfect day with beautiful blue skies, but monuments to our personal triumphs and defeats. Why can we not remember the perfect blue skies of a beautiful summer day as avidly as the missed opportunity that forever haunts our dreams?

I do not own pokemon.

* * *

**Gray**

_ "These are the ones who have completed the challenges of the battle frontier over the past five years." I turned to see a woman with lilac hair, eyes and garb. She was relatively short, but then again, so was I. Her dress and body shape gave her the appearance of a tomboy, but I knew better. The woman was actually in her earlier twenties and fairly sensitive about her flat body. She also was extremely intelligent, earning herself a reputation as a battling psychic. Maybe if she grew her hair out, people wouldn't call her a boy all the time...  
_

_ "Salon Maiden Anabel, how did any of these ever complete the challenge?" I asked. The roughly 15 successful stood lounging around at a dinner party arranged just for them. The party was a sort of award ceremony presented on their behalf. Apparently, the Frontier was a hard place to complete, seeing as roughly one million attempts had been taken so far. _

_ "I know you want to make a good impression by being incredibly strong, all of us do, but these people are real masters. All of them have a great deal of gym badges, some even have taken on the elite four. They're nothing to scoff at. I mean, the whole group of Frontier Brains lost to them." Anabel insisted. _

_ "Maybe I'm just blind then. Which one was the prodigy?" _

_ Anabel visibly grimaced. "He didn't show up. There are actually 17 people to complete the challenge and Emerald, the most famous to do so, didn't show. Red, the other, hasn't been seen in a long time."_

_ I gave Anabel a quizzical look. "Red was here? The Pokémon Master took time out of his day to prove that he could beat you? I'm not sure if you should feel honored or unlucky."_

_ "I prefer honored. Now, why don't we introduce you to the competition? I'm looking forward to seeing you fight…"_

* * *

I woke up in a bit of a haze. The dream left me feeling disoriented, and my memory of it was already imperfect. The campfire had long since burned down to embers and the moon was getting low, signifying the soon-to-be dawn. Lucy had decided that I shouldn't go after Espeon last night, and so I had settled down to sleep. And, for the first time since I woke up in the hospital, I had dreamed. I was incredibly certain that the dream held a key to my past, as I had never met the one called "Anabel" nor even known half the terms I used.

My end of the bargain had been completed, as Pumpkin was angry about being cramped up in a pokéball all the time. She wanted to run, but unfortunately that wasn't an option at the moment. It must've been a common problem with pokémon, seeing as Espeon had the same issue.

I quietly pulled out my backpack and looked for the dictionary. As it was mine to keep, I didn't mind making notes in it with some of the writing materials given to me. Meg had supplied me with a quill, ink and some blank formal paper. Apparently, I was dealing with a very classy ghost.

Stroking the fire up just a bit so I could see what I wrote, I scribbled down a few terms I remembered. 'Salon Maiden Anabel, Red, Emerald' were the only terms I could put together and even though it all seemed very unique, the words held little meaning to me. Maybe Lucy would know. I'd have to ask her when she woke up.

In the meantime, though, I thought it best to go look for Espeon. She had had all night to pout; it was time to go get her for today's trek.

**Espeon**

I had been traveling for hours upon end in Eterna, trying to find the way out. It was time to leave Gray, regardless of his own ideas or Meg's threats. The trainer I was looking for was the only one who could give me the security I needed. Unfortunately, Eterna was a fortress and I seemed to be hopelessly lost. Though, I had been almost certain I could've followed the trail we took without messing up. Apparently, I was wrong.

"Dearie!" A sinister singing broke through the silence. "You've been traveling for so long now! Slow down, take a rest! I'd hate to see those little legs give out!" The voice cackled. I knew whom it belonged to; it was the witch, Meg.

Unable to see Meg in the shadows of the forest, I decided to press on, increasing my pace. Her laugh, however, echoed out from in front of me. When I shifted directions, she simply laughed harder.

"I warned you. You either stayed with Gray or you received my punishment. I'm rather insulted you thought you could get away, girly! You think dark pokémon are scary? Oh girl, I told you! I'm going to make you wish you were taken by those runts," Meg cried, appearing right in front of me, firing a massive shadow ball at me. I couldn't dodge it, and I was soon wrapped in a spitting ball of dark energy. The whole world seemed to twist into dark shades of purple when the shadow ball engulfed me. My hearing was assaulted with horrifying and painful screams and ghastly faces popped in and out of my vision. But more importantly, the attack stung, like it was slicing me at random.

"Stop it, Meg! You don't control me! I want to go, why are you stopping me?" I yelled back, trying to find a way out of the shadow ball.

"I don't? I think you don't quite understand our world," Meg taunted with extreme malice. "I own you simply because I am stronger than you. You are beneath me because you show weakness. And girlie, I have something I want done! You didn't do as I told you, and now you'll be punished for it… Let the nightmares begin."

The shadow ball finally dissipated and the screams generally faded. The shadow ball had definitely hurt, but Meg had prepared something far worse for me. In front of me stood two large mightyena and a weavile leader. "See, I have associates as well… Boys, do as you please," Meg laughed, turning away. "And girlie, I really do care for you… so afterwards, please return your filthy self to Gray so he can continue on his quest. Consider this a light warning… Who knows, you might actually enjoy it," Meg cackled as the dark pokémon approached.

I did the only thing I knew how to do; I took off running. I was generally faster than most pokémon, but with all my cuts and being so tired from walking, there was very little chance of escape for me. I sprinted away through the trees, blindly hoping to find help. The three behind me were much faster, however. It felt like I wasn't even moving as the three caught me and slammed me into the dirt.

"Please… stop," I whimpered. In return, the weavile slashed my face, drawing blood. The pain was incredible as I realized he had used night slash. It bound my legs together and started cutting and smacking me constantly.

"Shut up, bitch. I'm going to enjoy your punishment. Serving Ms. Meg comes with many benefits, as you'll soon learn," The weavile laughed. "You two, stand back. You'll have your turn later."

The mightyena just watched as their companion tortured me. They weren't the same ones as before, these were much smarter and faster. Unfortunately, this was the end. As the weavile grinned and started to spread my legs, I screamed.

Suddenly, the weavile's eyes got big and he fell forward. Where he had stood, a shedinja now hovered, soulless eyes glaring daggers at me.

"Shedinja, double team," Gray said coolly. Struggling to get up, I saw Gray attempting to hold one of the big mightyena in a chokehold, face contorted with rage. As shedinja seemed to multiply, weavile got back up. "Fury cutter," Gray commanded.

The weavile took the hit better this time, but still recoiled in pain before slashing at the shedinja. The shedinja turned out to a copy and was quickly replaced by more. The weavile, realizing his predicament, started to shoot ice shards at all the replicas, to no avail. The second mightyena was trying to help weavile, biting at the shedinja copies. Both weavile and mightyena made no progress while being bombarded with attacks.

I retreated as far as I could from the fight and watched as shedinja's cuts started to draw blood. The dead bug would slash by flying his whole body across weavile's chest, cutting with the rough edges of the shell. Being that there were so many targets, weavile and mightyena never knew which of the hundreds of shedinja would cause the cuts.

Gray, being on the back of the mightyena, had buried the wolf's head into the ground by kicking out the front legs and using his weight to slam it into the ground. His anger was almost a visible aura and I was afraid to get any closer to him. The last time he had battled, he had been anxious. Right now, he was in complete control, even wrestling one of the mightyena down. I sat staring at the attacks Gray and the shedinja used, unable to help.

Gray's mightyena's eyes rolled back and his body went limp. Gray dropped the mightyena and got up and the legion of shedinja finished up weavile and the other mightyena. Eventually, the three dark types were bleeding and unconscious. Instead of turning to me immediately, Gray walked over to the shedinja. I couldn't help but feel a ping of jealousy, which I tried to stifle.

"Thank you, Shedinja," Gray said formally, even bowing slightly. "If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know."

Shedinja simply hovered in front of Gray; it's eyes actually angled upward and making Shedinja appear more relaxed. "Shedinjas only desire power for our protection. I am safe, and so there is no debt between us." With that said, Gray returned Shedinja to the pokéball and finally looked over at me. I couldn't even speak up to stop whatever 'I told you so' he would say. I was just too tired.

Instead, I felt him pick me up. I didn't even have the emotional or physical strength to resist. "I'm glad you're okay," Was all he said. I almost smiled. Almost.

**Gray**

It didn't take long to get back to camp. In fact, Espeon had only made it a mile or so from camp when I found her. Shedinja had proven invaluable, tracking the 'dark energy' he felt to those who were about to abuse Espeon. I was fairly certain that the abuse she took was only physical. Shedinja had managed to stop the weavile before it could go any farther. That same weavile would not be waking up tonight… I made sure of that.

Espeon had fallen asleep almost as soon as I had picked her up. She currently was still sleeping as I carried her, probably exhausted completely. She hadn't said anything since we saved her and I was too worried to put her back into her pokéball without making sure she was okay.

"Ah, so you found Espeon without my help!" Lucy said, smiling. She was sitting by a newly built fire, her hair wet as if she had gone swimming. When she caught my quizzical glance, she laughed. "I, like all girls, need to bathe regularly. You've been gone for a couple of hours and I was bored. You should probably bathe, too."

"I'm still on a schedule," I said, hoisting my backpack over my shoulder, carefully cradling Espeon with one arm. "I'll worry about that tonight. Now, are you ready to go?" Without waiting for a response, I started down the trail with a sign labeled 'Floaroma Town'.

"Fine, fine… Give me a minute!" Lucy shouted. "Hey! Stop it! You can't just expect a woman to be ready to travel!"

"Oh, don't worry," I chuckled. "I don't expect you to be ready, I'm just trying to get away from you."


	12. Refuge, Our Greatest Need

Humans are not meant to live alone forever. While we can try, all humans desire some sort of companionship. Pets, spouses, friends and even coworkers are all people who can help fill these spots in our lives. Because what are we if not reflections of the people who talk and laugh with us?

I don't own Pokemon.

* * *

**Gray**

For the first day out of my travels, the sky was bright blue and the path clear. The trees had thinned out drastically between the actual forest and the path to Floaroma town. The air was heavily fragranced with the smell of roses and other flowers that I had no business recognizing. Lucy, on the other hand, seemed to be a natural botanist; naming many of the strange berries and flowers we passed. She was a surprisingly dangerous girl, as I was learning... Her ability to frame an unfavorable situation into a win and her deductive capacity had surprised me, to say the least. For all her fanatical beliefs in this 'Arceus', she was a true genius.

Even hours into the day, Espeon was still asleep. I had eventually decided it would be easier for her to sleep in her pokéball because my arms had grown tired. Shedinja still didn't want to join me and so I was at the mercy of Lucy's rants about Arceus and the occasional berry. This conversation wasn't very interesting, so I decided to change the topic as soon as I had the chance. I figured when Lucy stopped talking about Arceus, I'd ask about the names I had heard. The issue was, Lucy never stopped talking and there was never an ideal time to change the topic.

"I'm sure you know, but a long time ago, instigators from Giratina's cult, disguised as Mewmon missionaries, invaded Arceus' worshippers' territory and started the Great War. The conflict happened when people were first starting to catch pokémon. This alone wouldn't have been enough to cause an all out war on religions. But at the time, there were many fractions of Arceus' religion, Legendary pokémon that all had individual followings. To guide their followers to the religion that benefited their cause the most, the Legendary Gods introduced the Great Prophets. These prophets were selected due to their faith and potential. Arceus refused to take a true 'prophet', but Giratina had many prophets including a very famous prophet named Luke Viridian. Luke was said to have been granted the power to talk to pokémon, to walk into shadows and disappear, and even the power to end lives with a whisper all due to his faith in Giratina." Lucy rambled. I listened silently, but I was admittedly quite interested in the 'Great Prophets'.

"Anyways, these prophets became the first real pokémon trainers, as each of the legendary pokémon granted their respective prophets with a favored pokemon species. Latios and Latias gave their prophets Solrocks and Lunatones along with some other psychic types. Giratina gave Luke a Mismagius and so on and so forth. This practice became common that the pokémon a prophet owned would verify the prophet's legitimacy. These prophets were the leaders in the war and they were unequaled in their battling. But Luke was a step above all the others. He started eliminating the other major prophets and almost won the war. It took five other prophets to eventually stop Luke, and with Luke gone, the war was essentially over. Giratina lost the war and was banished to the shadow realm."

"So, in your eyes, was Luke a bad person? If Arceus is the God you worship, then anyone who was against your faith is evil, correct?" I asked.

Lucy paused before speaking again, pulling her hair back behind her ears. "I believe in Arceus as the creator of all things. However, there's nothing that says one Legendary is evil or one is just. In fact, the Viridian forest is named after Luke because he nurtured the pokémon and trees there, making one of the most diverse forests in the world today… besides Eterna, of course. Rumor has it that once every ten years, a human is born by or in Viridian forest with the ability to communicate with pokémon. So regardless of who he sided with, I tend to think Luke was a pretty fascinating person."

"Lucy, do you know anyone named 'Emerald', 'Red', or 'Salon Maiden Anabel'?" I asked, seizing the opportunity to get away from the Arceus preaching. Lucy's eyes immediately got wide.

"Well, Red is the most famous trainer in the world! Of course I've heard of him… I don't know him, however. He lived in Kanto for a really long time before mentoring a kid named 'Gold'. He's the pokémon master, meaning he's conqured the elite four of his region, became the champion and has defended his title from everyone in the other regions. He's said to be extremely quiet unless he knows you, but only the legendary 'Dex holders' have any specific connection to him."

"Emerald is one of those 'Dex holders', and one of the few people to ever beat the Battle Frontier. He went really quiet after winning, however. He was a spunky child and really popular when he was taking the Frontier challenge because of his success and cockiness. He was also a midget… But I really don't know what happened to him."

"But the last one, Anabel, is like a sister to me. She's a Brain on the Frontier who is known to be a genius battler... she's kind of like you, though; she doesn't look like much, but she's able to talk to pokémon. Devon Corp has relied on her for years to develop 'Pokéspeak', the technology that will eventually remove language barriers that we have with pokémon. Personally, I doubt you two would get along well, though," Lucy frowned. After a moment, she started giggling.

"No, you two definitely would be awful. She'd be talking about battle theory and you'd just ignore her or make some really dry comment. Then she'd start getting ticked and say something right back. In a way, she's like your Espeon, intelligent but self sufficient and very confident… And you're like my brother Steven… quiet, smart, but a complete introvert! Girls everywhere obsess over my brother and what does he do? He goes into a cave for a 'vacation'! He and Anabel have a love/hate relationship, as well. They even developed books on battling together, but they never stop the stupid remarks. 'Flat chest', 'marble head', 'little boy', 'cave man' are just some of the many insults they have for each other…"

"Espeon and I haven't started the name calling yet!" I protested. "Anyways, I think it'd be interesting to meet Anabel at some time. Maybe take the Frontier challenge?"

"Eh… You're decent, but you need refinement. Maybe taking a course in the trainer school in Jubilife City? You really don't seem to know types, type advantages, moves or statuses. But you know how to use what you have. That's something a lot of people don't get. They yell a move and don't understand how to manipulate it like you did with that psychic attack. Not to mention truly advanced trainers create their own moves. If they succeed in making a good move, the technical machine used to teach the move can be sold for millions… Of course, Devon Corp makes most of the technical machines for trainers so we get a cut of the profit…," Lucy rambled. As I had learned from her Arceus preaching, she was a good talker. Apparently, it didn't just apply to talking about Arceus.

We had by then gotten up to a road sign. The sign pointing back at us was for Eterna and the forest, the sign to the left went to Valley Wind Works Science and Technology Center, and the sign pointing left was for our next destination, Floaroma Town.

"Oh good!" Lucy exclaimed as she looked at an atlas. Apparently, she had pulled the large book from her handbag. "Floaroma has a pokemon center, the ultimate trainer resource! It'll have better lodging tonight than sleeping on the ground in Eterna… and better food, too."

"Your choice to follow me," I remarked dryly. "Anyways, I quite enjoyed sleeping on the ground."

"You can do so again tonight. Floaroma has a lot of ground," Lucy replied innocently. I rolled my eyes and turned to head into the large flowered pasture the sign posted to. There was a small trail not overflowing with flowers that we were led down. The fragrance was strong enough to quickly become obnoxious, like the smell of a strong perfume. Lucy, as always, seemed to be enjoying the great deal of plants and wildlife. She looked perfectly in tune with her surroundings, her long blond hair falling out of her large brimmed sunhat. I probably looked completely out of place, still wearing a black polo and jeans. I looked, to be honest, shady. In a field of flowers, I was one of the last things you'd expect to see.

At least it didn't take more than ten minutes for us to get to the pokémon center. The pokémon center was a black and white two-story building that resembled a large colonial house. Its most prominent feature was the large white pillars supporting the roof over a large wrap-around porch. There was one tree that towered over the center itself, seemingly paying homage to the age of the center. The sign outside the center had a very old cursive script stating, "Rest, Repair and Replenish at Floaroma's Pokémon Estate."

Lucy didn't seem to take any notice to the beautiful architecture as she proceeded to walk up the stone stairs to the two wooden doors. The doors opened into a large lobby with a pink haired receptionist behind a giant wooden desk. The lobby provided a sense of openness provided by its spacious interior and the large skylight. The area must've doubled as a café, as the tables and chairs seemed to be from an old ice cream. Their white wire design, coupled with the marble floor, made the interior feel extremely vibrant.

"Hello, and welcome to the Floaroma Pokémon Center. How can I help you?"

"Hi Nurse Joy! Uhm, we're going to need two rooms, and two pokémon healed," Lucy stated, walking up to the counter. I noticed the room was basically empty but for a man sitting at a nearby round table eating lunch. "Oh! And make one of the rooms a large room, all inclusive."

"Alright, I'll need you to register the pokémon here," Nurse Joy started, handing out two clipboards. "Pokémon breed, gender, name, and your trainer I.D."

"I… don't believe I have a trainer I.D.," I frowned. Obviously, there had been no way for me to have access to getting an I.D. in the middle of a forest. Lucy frowned and shot me a questioning look, which I ignored.

"Ah, a new trainer? Well, all we need you to do is fill out this paper work!" Nurse Joy exclaimed. She quickly pulled out a different sheet of paper. "Just fill this out and I can get you your license."

I complied, filling out the multi-tiered questionnaire to the best of my ability. Some of it had to be faked, such as address, but Nurse Joy didn't seem to notice as she printed out a black plastic license. On it was a quick picture Nurse Joy had taken for photo identification and a picture of an espeon and a shedinja.

"Now, I'll take your pokémon for a while. Expect them to be ready in about an hour or so. Until then, here are the cards to open your respective rooms. Our café is open until 11 WST. The world famous Floaroma flower shop is open until 8 WST, but I suspect it won't be very busy today. Have a nice day!" Nurse Joy said cheerfully. Her hyper-enthusiasm was already getting on my nerves, so I decided to go find my room.

* * *

After quickly showering and changing into the one pair of clothes Meg had packed, I had settled down in the small room to read the encyclopedia I had dragged along. My room, unsurprisingly room 13, was really more akin to a dorm. The only features of the room were a bed, bathroom and a small desk. There were no windows to the outside, to which I was relatively glad. People seemed to enjoy interrupting me when I slept and the less ways into my room, the better. Unfortunately, the light was a lot duller than I had expected, casting the room into shadows. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised.

There was roughly thirty minutes before Nurse Joy would be done with Espeon, so I figured studying was the best route. Unfortunately, there was almost way too much to learn. Types, resistances, and immunities all seemed overly complex. Some were understandable, such as water being strong against fire, or flying creatures being weak to ice. However, how did one remember that a 'fighting' type move would be effective against a pokémon made of ice? Because of the immenseness of the type advantages, moves and information overload in general, I had stuck to learning about ghosts, bugs, and psychics. That was information enough for me to try and comprehend.

Of course, what kind of day would it be without Meg. She spiraled swirled out from the ceiling and swept through the room, appraising it.

"My, my… Seems like you made it a personal challenge to find a room drearier than the ones at the mansion. A child like you shouldn't constantly be so depressed! Brighten up a bit! And who packed those clothes? Ugh, that was me, wasn't it? I brought a better set anyways," Meg said hovering around, examining everything there was to see.

"Oh, the news! Julius never came back from his trip. The Persian family went turn tail, so I'm currently running the Mansion. That little feline trash is going to pay once I get him… So, once you meet N, I need you to either convince him to help us or go to Hoenn and find an old geezer named Al Psy. I saw him the other day through a mirror, and he seems to be moving his family to Hoenn to get some distance between them and the Persian family. We'll need his help to get Julius back. I assume you and Espeon are getting along well?"

"Well… yes," I said, deciding to skip over actually explaining anything.

"I knew you would be a good influence for her! She's a bit bratty at times, not to mention annoyingly self-centered, but I think you two make a good pair. She needs protection and you need to learn…" Meg laughed. She was ranting again, not letting me talk at all. "Anyways, I'll be back at the mansion, recruiting some more help locally. Good luck!" She exclaimed, flying out of the room. I guess it really didn't matter if I had windows or not…

* * *

The evening came quickly, as I spent much of the day in the pokémon center's beautiful lobby reading. When Espeon came back, she immediately fell asleep again, this time on the table. While I was slightly annoyed that I didn't have a place for the heavy encyclopedia, I was also surprised that she was content to be near me. I guess progress was progress.

Lucy had taken off to go exploring the Floaroma flower shop, and I was watching the sunset through the skylight when Espeon finally woke up. She apparently wasn't a very graceful morning person as she rolled right off the table into my lap before freaking out and falling to the floor.

"If it's any comfort, we're at the pokémon center where they not only treat physical injuries, but mental ones as well," I joked, marking my page.

"Is there ever a moment when you don't feel the urge to use dry humor? It's been a long day," Espeon sighed, lying down on the marble floor.

"I suppose you're talking about the morning as you've been sleeping ever since. On the bright side, you did avoid Lucy's ramblings."

"Yeah… Well, I guess I have slept a lot," Espeon replied. She sighed. "I'm sorry for trying to run away. It was stupid, and I get that. But please, don't bother me about it again," she pleaded.

"It was my fault for using that as my defense," I replied easily. "It's just, whenever you argue about me having nothing to offer you, it is generally true. So I'm more or less forced to use my extremely heroic effort as my defense." Espeon just rolled her eyes. "You know, I'm not here to restrain you. I have a job to do and it does come first, but if you want help with your quest, I'll help. Don't try to go alone, it's dangerous."

"I know. Look, for tonight, I just want to sleep and forget about today," She sighed, looking up at the skylight.

"Haven't you slept enough? We'll be moving tomorrow to Jubilife, I checked the center's map today. It's probably a day and half walk, tops. So, we can probably sleep in a little bit. You don't need to start now."

"Yeah… Want to go for a walk? I guess I haven't moved much today," Espeon conceded.

"Sure. I was getting bored of waiting for you to wake up anyways."

* * *

Thanks for your continued support. Read and review, please.


	13. Motive Move the World

Do our lifestyles form our beliefs or do our beliefs shape the way we live? I personally hope it's the ladder since not one of us can experience enough in this world to form our own set of beliefs. And what point is a belief if we don't live by the rules it dictates?

I don't own pokemon.

* * *

**Gray**

_I was standing next to Anabel again. This time, however, I was in a large house. The house, instead of having a full second floor, had two lofts, making the living room feel even larger than it was. There were multiple windows, allowing a great deal of light in. _

"_It's a beautiful house…" I said slowly._

"_Each of us has a good home. We _do _occasionally have days off, you know." Anabel laughed. She walked into the living room and sat on the couch. "They're fairly similar, however… might want to get a different paint scheme just to give it some variety."_

"_Yes… To be honest, it's a bit much for me. Are you sure there isn't a slightly… smaller… place to live around here? I'm not much for a grandiose lifestyle," I stated dryly. I walked into the adjacent kitchen, fully outfitted with beautiful marble counters and wood floors. There were plenty of places to lean comfortably, at least. "Something like this is simply too much for one person to live in."_

_Anabeth looked visibly disappointed. "I don't know what to tell you… For someone who supposedly likes a simple lifestyle, you sure are picky. I mean, I can tell your pokémon at least will enjoy the open space," She said, glancing outside. The large meadow behind this mansion was secluded by an even larger forest and outlined by a deep river. _

"_I've been traveling for a while now. I guess I'm not used to such a luxurious lifestyle. Please excuse my rude manner."_

"_Ah, it's fine! You'd actually be fairly entertaining if you weren't so uptight about everything. Just remember the banquet tonight. Six Hoenn Southern," Anabeth smiled, getting up to leave. She turned at the door, looking slightly embarrassed. "I know it's rude to ask… and the media is generally a bunch of liars, but did you…"_

"_Anabeth… Please try to understand that no one understands the whole story. Not even me."_

* * *

"And the Champion Steven Stone dominates all the competition again with his signature gravity-inducing Metagross! Amazing, Champion Stone didn't lose a single pokémon!" The announcer proclaimed. I had gotten up earlier in the morning than I expected to, plagued by the abrupt ending to my dream. I wasn't able to reclaim the sleep so sourly ripped from me, so I had gone down to the main lobby where the Hoenn Championships were being displayed on the television.

"My brother always was a bit of a showoff…" Lucy said, walking up from behind me. I was rather surprised she was already up, as it couldn't have been past 6 WST. "His gravity team is basically unstoppable. Pokémon move slower, flying types are grounded, and he never misses an attack. Plus, because his Metagross induces gravity, the gravity is about the equivalent to five times the normal gravity in the effected area. Such a showoff, really." I could hear quite a bit of pride in Lucy's voice, even though her words seemed insulting.

"A pokémon that can produce gravity? Isn't that a little bit scary? The mass of an object required to produce that amount of gravity would be unreal…"

"Remember the whole World War I was telling you about yesterday? Pokémon are strong enough to cause incredible destruction and champions almost serve as a reminder to the destruction pokémon can create. But anyways, we should get Espeon up and get moving. And by 'we', I mean you. Let's go already, slouch," Lucy said, pulling me up and shoving me towards my room.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, we were all set and ready to go. When I walked outside with Espeon, I was surprised to see Lucy, with multiple new bags filled with contents I could only guess at. Instead of carry all these bags; Lucy had enlisted Pumpkin as her dedicated pack mule.

"Ah! Hello Gray! Hello Espeon!" Lucy smiled. Before I could reply, her face brightened. "Oh, Espeon! You can use telepathy?"

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"She sent me a picture of a waving hand… When you said she could use telepathy, I thought you were lying… It's a rather rare skillset. Then again, you two are anything _but _normal." Lucy laughed, scratching behind Espeon's ear. I was surprised to see such a positive reaction from Espeon, her demeanor had become so much more bearable recently.

"Oh, I definitely don't mind you when you scratch behind my ear…" Espeon purred, her face shining with satisfaction. I inwardly groaned: Lucy would have a better relationship with Espeon than I would, and she couldn't even understand Espeon.

"Well, shall we be off?" I asked, hoisting my own backpack up a little higher. "I'm not one for soppy displays of affection…"

"See that, Espeon? No capacity for love, caring, or friendships. You should stick with me and we could leave this loser behind," Lucy joked. She grinned, looking at Pumpkin. "But I think she'd get all jealous of you anyways."

"I doubt she'd enjoyed being used as a pack mule. I don't think Espeon would carry her own weight if she had the choice," I commented.

"Not true," Espeon grumbled.

"Oh really? Who carried you all the way to Floaroma while you slept like a baby? You certainly didn't sleep walk."

"Oh, so now I sleep too much! You seem to love to point out all my flaws," Espeon chuckled. "But we should get moving, I need to be asleep in a couple of hours anyways," She added sarcastically.

* * *

Sinnoh Route 204, the path we were on, appeared to be relatively aged. Instead of the clean and smooth dirt path from Eterna to Floaroma, the path was full of holes and badly rutted. And this was when there had even been dirt laid to make a path. Often enough, we were only following the occasional wooden sign that told us the grass we were on would eventually lead back to a more defined path. Even with the path's imperfections, however, route 204 was fairly populated. Every mile or so, we'd pass another traveler and exchange brief pleasantries. Basically everyone we met was good-natured, probably in large part due to the beautiful weather. The blue skies were only occasionally interrupted by a fluffy white cloud. Pokémon chirped and occasionally some even could be seen crossing the path. From asking Espeon, I had learned a few of their individual species names.

For example, a small linx kitten with blue and black fur crossed our paths. It had looked at Espeon and started charging up small electrical shock waves before Espeon used psychic to toss it into the woods.

"What a stupid shinx, deciding to try and attack a far superior species of cat," She laughed, listening as the shinx yipped in surprise.

And so the day continued until we got close to the entrance of a small cave called "Ravaged Path". A small kid stood in front of the narrow entrance with his arms crossed. Dressed in a simple set of jeans and a red t-shirt, I didn't think much of him until he moved to block me as I started to walk by.

"Pay up," he barked, looking up at me. Rolling my eyes, I tried to move around him by gently guiding him out of the way. He quickly slapped my arm away. "Pay up. There's a toll to go through this cave. 500 poké for each person."

"Aren't your parents looking for you, kid?" Lucy asked, smirking. "We're trying to get somewhere. Now go play your child game somewhere else," She finished, moving past me. As soon as she moved past, however, two large pokémon appeared behind the kid. A large brown boulder with four arms flanked the kid from the left and a purple cobra slithered up on his right side.

"Lucy… I think you need to step back. Apparently, this kid has some impressive toys," I remarked.

"Ah, don't bother, it's an arbok and graveler," Espeon sighed. Regardless of her tone, her stance was much more rigid, legs braced defensively in front and dug in as if she expected to get hit at any moment.

"Those are two dangerous pokémon… While graveler isn't aggressive by nature, they're hugely powerful. Arbok, on the other hand, has been known to eat anything that comes too close to it," Lucy informed, grabbing Pumpkin to force her back. Pumpkin, however, needed no convincing.

"Any chance the snake eats him," I asked sarcastically. "Look, we aren't paying you. Even if I had money to give you, I doubt I'd feel like donating money to the local orphanage to take care of you."

"Then we fight," He smirked. "Your espeon versus Boulder." Without waiting for any acknowledgement, the giant rock rolled forward at Espeon.

"Gray, Espeon can't lift a graveler… they're far too heavy!" Lucy exclaimed. Espeon jumped aside, but the graveler continued towards me. I quickly made my own adjustments out of the way as the graveler barreled by. I coughed a bit as the dust and dirt got in my face, and quickly wiped the debris out of my eyes. The earth where I had stood was deeply rutted and the ground shook as he passed.

"I can make walls to slow him down," Espeon stated. Without waiting for my approval, a bright rainbow exploded in front of her before disappearing again.

Lucy snapped her fingers and grinned. "While reflect is up, the rock will be hindered as some of the kinetic energy will be absorbed, causing a lot of friction, almost twice as much!"

"That doesn't matter! Boulder, rock throw!" The kid shouted. Part of the graveler's arm exploded into rocks the size of baseballs. The rocks levitated in the air and then cascaded at Espeon. Some of them hit the reflect wall, but more than half passed through. Espeon grinned evilly, freezing the rocks in midair with a psychic and tossed them towards the arbok.

"Hey, that's unfair! Lucifer isn't even in this!"

"Oh really? I thought this was a double battle," I smirked. Suddenly, the kid collapsed, out cold. The boy's graveler immediately turned to help him, but it was too late. The giant boulder moved quickly to his master's side, staying defensively close.

"Espeon, throw that snake away from here," I commanded. Espeon had no problem grabbing the comparatively lighter arbok and tossing him hundreds of meters away. "Now, I think we owe Shedinja a thank you."

"What do you mean?" Lucy inquired. She looked shocked to find that I had a part in the kid dropping.

"Well, while you two were trying to win the battle, Shedinja and I won the war. When the graveler blew by me, I let Shedinja go. He used shadow sneak to creep up on that kid and teach him a harsh lesson about reality. You're fighting did well to hide him," I answered smugly.

"You realize that's illegal… you can't attack trainers in trainer battles," Lucy said, disbelief in her eyes.

"Nothing legal about trying to racketeer," I reasoned. Lucy rolled her eyes at my comparison. "Look, he _probably_ won't sustain permanent damage. And besides, the ends justify the means," I laughed, moving through the cave entrance.

"It's immoral, Gray! You can't just go doing this to people, regardless of his own actions!" Lucy fretted, looking at the unconscious boy.

"Lucy, I don't care much for that sense of morality. All these rules tend to get in the way of what I need to do," I frowned. "No offense, but Espeon wasn't strong enough to lift that boulder and eventually, we would've lost. I wasn't planning to wait for that to happen, so I won the fight in another way. And was it moral for that kid to try and steal from me? No, but he probably needed money. I'll believe in such a term as 'morality' when I see someone show self-sacrifice for a person they don't know for no reason other than it was the 'moral choice'. And since I doubt I'll ever see it, I'll continue to stick to my own code."

* * *

Night came quickly. We exited the long Ragged Path at dusk, so we had little time to choose where to settle down. With a quick search of the area, we soon found a large pond directly south of the cave. With some quick work, we had a small fire and some soup cooking, thanks to the supplies Lucy picked up in Floaroma. My energy bars weren't cutting it, apparently. But after we ate, everyone settled down to sleep.

The night was fairly calm and particularly relaxing compared to Eterna. Espeon had identified a lot of the pokemon's calls to me a bit earlier, and so I recognized the noctowls and hoot-hoots cries. More importantly, I enjoyed the violins of the kricketune. Individually, they sounded like a mess, but as the night progressed, they started taking turns, almost showing off their individual talents in an orderly fashion. Some of the violins were close to our camp while others were barely audible over the sound of the soft waves. Nonetheless, they served to make an incredible lullaby.

By now, I knew how Espeon slept. She curled up in a ball, generally inconveniently where I wanted to sleep. Tonight, I had set aside a pillow and blankets for her, but she seemed to think that was what I set aside for myself and had decided to sleep in my sleeping bag. Thus, I had the blankets and pillow.

Lucy, unsurprisingly, muttered in her sleep. She slept on her side and faced away from me, so I couldn't hear what she was saying, but I could easily tell that she was muttering something.

_It's one way to stay articulate… _

Without a moment's hesitation, when I was trying to sleep, someone would bother me. Written rule in the fabrics of time, even if it was myself.

_Hmm… Should we go for a walk? I did see how much you enjoyed your walk with Espeon. So sweet… _

On my own command this time, I got up quietly and walked away from the camp, careful not to let my alter ego have any control. There would not be a repeat of last time's 'stretch' here.

I walked along the small shore of the expansive pond, the clear night sky guiding me. Though, knowing what my vision was like a couple of nights ago, I doubted that the moon and stars were actually needed. But finally, we were far enough away from the camp to talk freely.

"What do you want to bother me about now? I'm not nocturnal."

_Feisty today, eh? I'm stuck here, same as you. I'm just tired more often than you are, and so while I'm awake, I'd like to talk. You saw Meg yesterday._

"So? Meg shows up everywhere," I stated. Uninterested in walking any further, I sat down and looked out over the water. The waves distorted the moon's light a bit, but the reflection made it seem like I was looking into another world with the vastness of the sky shown in the pond.

_She's dangerous. I'm sure you know that, but Meg is actually a pokémon born of war. Her age overlaps almost perfectly the beginning of the Great War… which started roughly 1020 years ago. You heard from Lucy, right? Luke had a pokémon granted to him by Giratina… I think it could easily have been Meg. _

"I mean, she looks strong and even when she's so happy, I can tell she's dangerous, but there are two other mismagius older than her, right? And what would this matter, anyways? I don't exactly get what this has to do with what I'm doing."

_Imagine a pokémon that could take on legends… pokémon Gods. No other pokémon fits, the two older are probably a lot older and the legend goes that Giratina FORMED the mismagius for Luke. _

"Even if this is true, what's your point? I haven't got anything against her and she's not out to get me. This is a problem for someone else to bother with," I stated.

_Do you really want to be some delivery boy for the Murk mafia family? Even if so, Meg's interests AREN'T there. She is born to thrive in war, to be a demon in battle. Her outward appearance is a façade… She won't be happy until she's ripping throats out. SHE'S ASKING YOU TO START A WAR. _

It made a lot of sense. Recruiting N or going to find the one named "Al Psy" both ended in the hopes of their loyalty or support. But even then, I couldn't find it in me to really care. What was a war to me? My mission was to get Julius back and then to help Espeon. When I voiced this opinion, I wasn't surprised with the long silence.

_Even knowing the threats, I can't really be bothered to be interested either… My mission is to get separated from you and go back to how life was. I just thought it'd be something worth noting… and figured you might be the kind of guy with morality who would stop his own goals in the face of chaos. _

"Apparently you weren't awake today. I'm not going to actively help start a war, but my own goals come first. I'm with this family to learn and try to rediscover anything I can. They've been helpful since the beginning, and so I do owe it to Julius. But my goals will always come first," I stated firmly.

_I'm glad to have been stuck with someone like you. Had you gone the higher ground here, I probably would've been forced to take some sort of action. _

"Why'd you tell me then? Couldn't you pull the wool over my eyes and let me be ignorant of it?" I inquired. I looked around quickly to make sure no one was looking. Talking to myself in the middle of the night would be a bit strange.

_You'd have figured it out eventually. I needed to know your focus now. I would rather not go to Hoenn if we could avoid it, unless we can get to Kanto first, so let's convince this N to join Meg… Regardless of the consequences. _

"That's fine. Unfortunately, I really don't know the difference between Kanto or Hoenn. Not that it matters right now. Have you bee able to remember anything about your specific life?"

_Don't worry about it. Worry about remembering your own past and be glad I can teach you something. Now, are you sure you don't want to let me stretch a bit? _He was obviously joking, but I felt myself get defensive regardless of his joking.

* * *

**Meg**

To the most precious Lilli and Frost,

How DO you two do? We haven't talked in years… but work is rather difficult and I haven't had time to write. Oh, but you two are so cute, even if you do manage to make me mad as hell all the time! The both of you are all grown up now, running families when the boss isn't around… I know you've both been doing a fantastic job recently. Well, shouldn't a good woman be able to run it better anyways?

Frost, dearie, you need to keep your weavile claws a little sharper. I'm still not sure that lucario, Pharaoh, is right for you. Even if we are all attracted to power (and believe me, we are), us women need to have a little control over it! Having such a weakness to him isn't a good way to take that power for yourself. Oh, trust me, you'll want that power eventually. Women make better decisions, anyways! Whether you keep him around is personal preference.

Ah, same to you, Lilli. Being a pretty lilligant leaves your petals vulnerable to Archiard… And he's a little less reserved than the noble Pharaoh if what I've heard is anything to go by. Ah, I guess you'd love that, you were always too timid to start anything yourself. Then again, I'd probably prefer Archiard to Pharaoh… I'd bet that lucario is really hard for Frost to control with how reserved he is. Julius can be that way as well, but I'm a ghost so what do I care? I just enjoy toying with love lives in lieu of having one myself!

But, unfortunately I can't even devote a whole letter just to gossip with you two sweethearts. That little cat messed with your lovers and Julius. He's going to pay, and I think we all realize that we're going to have to put aside our differences for a while. And Lilli, get angry a bit; you can't be kind forever! This feline just took your man! You're going to have to rip that bitch apart to pay for ever laying a hand on the man YOU own. He's yours to tease, tantalize and tempt. No one else should have that luxury! Frost is ready to rip out the cat's eyes for his sins, you should be just as eager!

Let's meet sometime soon. I'd love to talk to you all in person, so if you feel like coming my way to the mansion, you can! Eterna will accept you without issue. But in the meantime, I suggest you recruit more members to get ready to attack the Persian family. Mine is almost done, as the majority of Eterna waits at my beck and call. Al Psy is a general lazy windbag, so I'd expect nothing from him until he's even older than he is now. It's basically up to us to start this war and we three have the power to do just that.

The longer we wait, the longer it takes for you to get your man back. Tata, dearies! I have this interesting kid to look after right now; he really is a fun one to follow.

Forever Supporting,  
Meg

~A letter from Meg to Lilli and Frost, secretaries of the Niard and Cario family respectively.

* * *

Thanks for reading. But, as this chapter (and all of them) took a great deal of time to write, I'd greatly appreciate it if you could take some time out of your busy day to drop a review. Thanks again.


	14. Doors Better Left Unopen

Does the faults of one's past cling to that person into the future, even if they truly 'change'? Are we forever doomed to live with mistakes without forgiveness? But even if we are forgiven by the world, what of those we affected? What consolation can they take? Or, are we simply never truly 'changed'? Given the same scenario again and again, aren't the insane ones the ones who expect different results? We term these people who patiently wait for true change and improvement 'kind' and 'caring', sometimes even 'saintly', but might it simply be a lost cause?

I don't own pokemon. Sorry for the long wait, college got busy. Without further ado, though:

**Espeon**

_I sighed as I finished a fight with a large Tauros. He had been burned multiple times by scald, but he kept charging and bruising me. To put it simply, it was an exhausting fight. My blue scales flashed once as they reverted back into the brown fur I was more aquatinted with. Coupled with the reversion to my old form, the battle had completely exhausted me. _

"_Nice job, kid," my trainer said, addressing the defeated trainer. "Your pokemon have a lot of guts and you can fight, but don't be afraid to switch around pokémon a bit. I don't keep pokémon in on battles that aren't advantageous. Remember that, and you'll go far." The kid nodded and left, probably scurrying back to the pokémon center. _

_The stadium we fought in, while small, had a lot of visitors watching the day's match, all of which slowly streamed out. We waited patiently as the people left, some coming over to my trainer for advice. _

"_Hey, Vee… do you ever want to permanently evolve?" He asked me. "I understand if you want to stay an eevee and all, but aren't you a little tired? I can tell every time you switch back, it bothers you that your form changes so often. So, what do you say? Do you want to evolve?"_

_At that point, the only thing I ever wanted to do was make my master proud. Of course I wanted to evolve! What else was there to do? He was the most supportive human I could ever find and if he thought I'd be better off evolving, then I'd evolve for him. _

_Exhausted as I was, I prayed to Arceus just to let me evolve for my trainer. If Arceus was a god, couldn't he let me evolve here so I could become a more official member of his team? All I wanted was to be able to adventure everywhere and never be separated from my trainer. Was that so much to ask? To be part of my trainer's main team, all the time! The thought made me warm inside, to possibly truly belong to my trainer. In the back of my mind, I could feel these thoughts almost shaping me completely, a feeling I was now more or less familiar with. But this was different, I was hopeful that this change might be for the better, that this time I would truly be by my trainer's side forever…_

* * *

"Espeon, come on! We're getting ready to go, and I don't want to carry you all the way to Jubilife!" Gray said, gently shaking me to wake me up. My dream dissolved as I awoke to a midday sun and Gray's tired face. I sighed, angry at having been interrupted from my favorite dream.

_Forever lasted so long, _I thought sarcastically._ I was naïve then to think that I could stay there forever. 'Forever' is a better description of how long it's been since he left me._ I had just woken up and I was already extremely bitter. This was shaping up to be a bad day.

* * *

**Gray**

We arrived in Jubilife early in the evening, just after 18:00 WST. The trip had been completely uneventful with little more than the occasional stranger, but the amount of traffic was misleading for the size of Jubilife. Three miles out, we had been able to see the brightly lit skyscrapers peaking over the trees. The city sat up on a small hill and the only structure that was even close to as monstrous as the looming city was the barely visible distant mountains to our left.

It was still early in the evening, but I was already worn down from all the constant walking. I was already tired enough just to go to sleep, but Lucy had other plans.

"Gray, I'm going to go shopping! I'll find some place to stay later on, so just go to the Pokémon Center by 23 WST. Oh, and I'm stealing Espeon!" Lucy said, grabbing her and running before I could protest.

"Yeah, see you later!" Espeon grinned, hopping out of Lucy's arms to run besides her. I rolled my eyes for lack of better way to express my surprise.

"I think Espeon may decide to leave me for Lucy…" I muttered. "Well, at least I have Shedinja here."

Compared to Jubilife, Eterna was deserted. Even from the Northern Gate, I was shocked by how busy Jubilife was. Street vendors and shoppers packed the streets and the lively city was full of music and noise. I was quickly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of people.

"Here me, commoners of Jubilife! The latest technology by the Poketch company is now out! Visit the Jubilife Poketch Supercenter for free apps!" A short man in a clown suit shouted from the street corner.

Ignoring them, I continued to walk on down the long road fittingly named "North Gate Street". The place was packed, with shopping centers a bit too busy for my tastes.

"Sinnoh Nightly News at 18! The best news channel for competitive battling worldwide. Listen for current events, champion dates and even trainer tips!" I was getting tired of all the bustling activity, so I made a turn onto a quiet street titled "Diamond Drive". The street still had more people on it than the whole population of Eterna city, but at least here the crowd was greatly reduced. This road seemed to be more focused on the classy restaurants of Jubilife, as lovers sat on patios in quiet conversation and the noise of Jubilife's city was greatly dampened. But unfortunately, this road lacked a place to stay. So, I turned back onto "Main Street" and joined the crowed of people.

The streets were absolutely packed for a reason I couldn't guess immediately, but I soon saw what caught their attention. On the side of a giant corporate building was a huge television. The screen was playing a pokémon battle in a large stadium, labeling the trainers as "Elite Four Drake" and "Challenger Kelly".

Drake was a large, older man with a ragged sailor uniform, the black pea coat open and the blue jeans ripped at the bottom. He stood comfortable with a wicked grin and his arms crossed, as he had a large blue dragon with red wings hovering above him. Kelly, the opponent, was much younger, probably in her mid twenties. She simply wore a red t-shirt and jeans, and her expression was one of fear. The pokémon in front of her was a huge metal snake, standing almost 30 feet high. The steel snake was grinning as it slowly advanced towards the dragon, fairly small in comparison, until a meteor shower started to rain right on that snake. These meteors were the size of small cars, each perfectly aimed at the snake, each one blasting it back. I had watched Steven's gravity metagross the other day, but having fiery meteors pound down on an enemy seemed completely unfair. In no time at all, the steel snake toppled over, dents and shattered metal littering its body, eyes closed.

The announcer's voice boomed out across the whole city, "Drake's signature move, Draco Meteor, strikes a hole right through Kelly's previously unbeatable Steelix! The impervious metal monster has for the first time fallen!"

The camera zoomed in on Drake's weathered face, showing him sporting a wicked smirk. His blue dragon looked a little strained, but after summoning a meteor shower, I was glad there was at least some drawback.

"Kelly, I told you to come back when you could beat me and you come out of spite again. Win as many times as you want to, you'll never beat me," Drake said darkly. He turned and walked away from the field, dragon following behind him as the crowd went wild.

"That was Kelly's fourth unsuccessful attempt to beat Drake in eight years! Drake, the old sailor, is truly a dragon tamer of unbelievable prowess! Join us tomorrow as the prodigy Yellow continues her journey through the Kanto Champion Tournament. She'll be taking on the master of luck from Cerulean, John O'Riley. But until then, this is Battle Central News, signing out! Stick around for Sinnoh News next."

"Pretty impressive, don't you think?" I turned to see a man clad in a black suit and a dark gray homburg covering his short graying hair. He was leaning on an elegant cane that fit perfectly to him and had a bird's head for the grip.

"Drake invented that move when he was about your age. The Devon Corporation wanted him to make a technical machine of that move, but he refused, keeping the knowledge to himself and one other woman. In fact, Drake had the opportunity to be the champion of Hoenn, or at least compete for it. He instead elected to become an elite four member under Wally, now retired. But you know that, Mr. Gray."

"And how is it that everyone knows my name?" I asked. This had to be another one of Meg's little helpers, even as old and frail as he appeared. But his shocked expression seemed to speak otherwise.

"How wouldn't I? What happened to you, Mr. Gray? You might not have been as popular as an elite four member, but you were certainly known! Or did it have something to do with that experiment…" He trailed off, looking around. Frowning, he turned on his cane and started hobbling off. "Come with me, it isn't good for me to show my face in public. My name is George Gambino, and it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance again."

We walked away from the town center with the crowds, heading towards Diamond Drive again. We were really outpaced by the rest of the crowd, but George didn't seem to mind as he slowly walked. As we went, I slowly started to note that he carried only one pokéball, hidden under his coat. It, like Lucy's, was a jeweled black ball with traces of red and yellow.

"Mr. George, when I asked how you knew my name, I asked because that name wasn't something I gave myself, not because it was my name. Recently, someone else gave me that name," I stated as we walked along.

"Then someone wants you to know your old name. My hunch was correct; they did mess with your brain… Well, why they'd go through all that trouble to make you forget and allow someone to carelessly give you a piece of your past, I have no idea. There's no one in this world that wants you back how you were. Well, there are some… But let's keep moving. Everything will be answered in time, perhaps."

Soon, George decided to walk into a small tavern named "The Cozy Cresselia". The old fashion wooden sign hung above a small wooden door. The door led to an inside common room that had many similarities to traditional taverns. Circular wooden tables spread throughout the large room with a large fireplace and a corner set aside for musicians. A pianist sat in the corner playing a soft and slow melody, just to breath sound into an otherwise quiet room. George proceeded to find an empty table far removed from the other few groups. He sat down slowly and motioned for me to follow suit.

"I'm going to be very honest with you," George growled once he was seated. "You're pointless in your current state. Hell, I don't even know why I'm bothering with you. You show up in Jubilife, wandering around like some commoner after two years of being 'dead'! Even if you are missing part of that mind of yours, you're still a damn fool! You always were crazy, why should it bother you now?"

"So why do you bother yourself by dragging your disabled ass out of this tavern to come find me?" I muttered. "You look like you should be in a retirement home already."

"Praise the lord, he didn't lose his damn sarcastic snobbery!" George exclaimed. He glanced around, but the other groups appeared to be too drunk to care about his loud outburst. "Look Gray, you may be a damned fool, and no one is denying that, but you were a genius beyond compare. A cold-blooded, untrustworthy bastard, but a genius."

"If you're going to talk about me, why don't you help me out? I didn't ask to come here to listen to you insult me. All I need is a little bit of my memory back." I said, clasping my hands in front of my face.

"That's it? All you need? Gray, do you even know what you are any more? Two years, and you wonder what they did to you for two years? Charon, the doctor from Team Plasma, had two years to experiment any way he needed. You're hopeless, boy. I'm going to bed, there are others I can find who can help me." He slowly stood and turned to leave, coming face to face with shedinja.

"I didn't say you could go, Mr. Gambino. Why don't you just sit down and we can continue talking," I stated calmly. I smiled venomously when he sat back down. "Now, you were just about to tell me about my past, right? You've alluded to knowing quite a bit about me and I'm interested to hear what you know."

"It would appear you didn't lose your knowledge of how to play unfair. You're just starting to relearn everything and you already have a shedinja. Not only that, I didn't see you move him. But you haven't recognized my own ability. In fact, you remain oblivious to the fact that I'm very much like you… Even when I mentioned I knew of the experimenting." George chuckled. He took off his hat slowly to reveal to metallic silver horns, bent forward almost like a bull's. "You think you're the only one ever to be put through that experiment? Granted, I smart enough to make sure they didn't mess with my mind."

"I'm sorry, I can't remember waking up with horns," I said sarcastically as he put his hat back on.

"Consider yourself lucky. I was Charon's test to see if pokémon cells were compatible with humans. You were his test to stretch the capabilities. You're a newer 'model' with more capabilities, most likely. Either that, or being visibly different is undesirable for Charon's plans. He's been under the guise of 'curing cancer' with his cell research program for two years, gaining exorbitant funds with each 'discovery' he has. I suspect the funders realize that he's using humans but just don't care. A cure would make them so much money that any unethical research is worth it. And they don't bother Charon because he threatens to stop researching if his funders interfere. The things geniuses can threaten…"

"But why were you part of this program?"

"I was involved in organized crime for years." George started.

"Don't worry, you look the part," I interrupted. George ignored me before continuing.

"Over the years of insane stress, I never had one injury, gaining me the name 'Lucky Georgie Gambino'. But that luck ran out and a pokémon sliced my back. At that time, I was on a bit of a low and didn't have the kind of funding needed to get actual surgery. I also would've been relatively recognizable, and so Charon Tortican presented a great option. He wouldn't just heal my back; he'd add more strength. For free. I knew something was wrong but I had no choice. Little did I know he really wouldn't repair my back at all. This cane does more for my back than any of that surgery. But, there are some unorthodox benefits, as I'm sure you know…"

"Why don't you explain that part? I'm still at the point of 'talking voice in my head'. I haven't noticed any benefits, or at least what I'd call a benefit."

George sighed. "Gray, you're better than that! Just the fact you recognize a voice is key to this! I have instincts I never had before; I can tell when someone is looking at me from a long distance off, and my ability to sense danger is greatly improved. Not only that, but…" George looked around slowly, but the drunken group still had yet to take interest in us. He opened his palm up and produced a small flame. "This experiment has given us a bit more than we bargained for. The pokémon DNA is too compatible with the human body. I don't understand much about the actual summoning of this, other than it stresses my body to do so, though that could just be my back."

"I did notice this once," I conceded. "But if I can't control it, I'm not going to use it."

"Good for you. Well, I'd love to chat, but I do need to sleep. I didn't come here just to say hello, though. I was delivering something to you, though now I doubt you'd like to receive it. Nevertheless, I was tasked to give this to you," George said, pulling out a thickly packed manila folder from under his coat. "Don't open this when you're around someone. No one, not even that Lucy girl you've been traveling with, can see this. What's in here is a key to your past, but one that if you open it prematurely, you wouldn't understand. Get well, Gray. If you so wish to see me again, I'll be where you belong."

"Wait… Mr. George, fire is Shedinja's weakness…" I had let my guard down, not expecting an elderly old man to be a threat to shedinja.

"Yes," George said as he got up, "I could've easily left right then. But what you did gave me hope that you might one day be of use," George finished. "Be warned, though; your rediscovery is going to be repentance for all the shit you've caused. Whether you simply remember, or the world decides to remind you, I doubt the process will be fun. He slowly hobbled off, leaving me behind in silence. I didn't mind; I now held the key to my past.

* * *

**Espeon (Vee)**

"Espeon, you have to enjoy yourself a bit!" Lucy insisted. I was sitting in a corner in one of the large Jubilife apartment store changing rooms while Lucy was trying on new outfits. Lucy had already spent over 100k poké without even noticing; having bought multiple dresses and anything that caught her eye for her or me. I wasn't bored by the experience; I was just tired from the long days. After hours of shopping, I was ready to sleep.

"Just look at this cute bow!" Lucy exclaimed. She held up a deep red bow with complicated embroidery. The middle of the bow had a large amethyst gemstone, which Lucy figured would help match the bow. She didn't even bother having me try it on; she just threw it in her fourth bag.

"I'm sorry Espeon, I know you're tired, but I haven't had a chance to shop in a while! Between all this traveling and even occasionally having some side research, I don't get to stores much." My demeanor must've been ruining her mood, and I felt bad. She was spending a great deal of money on me and I had greatly enjoyed spending time with her.

We had developed a quick way of communication. Still using object-oriented telepathy, I would give an object and Lucy would quickly restate what she thought I meant. It was a game of charades, but we had quickly grown adept at understanding each other. It was also a rather enjoyable way to get to know each other, as our interpretations often provided for more discussion.

"Does Gray even have any money? No offense, but he lives like a complete drifter. He has a ragged old backpack and a couple of bland foods… traveling with him must be rough. I feel bad for you, Espeon!" Lucy gushed. She waited patiently for me to respond before interpreting. "Oh, that's right! You haven't traveled with him much more than I have. He's rather depressing… Well, maybe not depressing. What would you call it?" Lucy started to hang up a dress she didn't quite like while I responded. "Boring? Oh, you mean he's really objectively focused… Well, work is boring, so I thought that's what you were getting at. You're being far too nice, I can tell you're not exactly having the time of your life."

No, this was true. But at the same time, Gray had already helped me out a few times, and I felt we were just finally starting to respect each other. I voiced this to Lucy, and she smiled. "You two are the oddest two I've ever seen. Maybe it's because you two can communicate, which is something most trainers and pokémon are never able to accomplish… But both of you can be so focused on what you _need _to do that you lose sight of what you _can _do. Enjoy life a bit!"

We left the department store to head back to the hotel Lucy had found earlier. The beautiful white building had a bronze statue of a Staraptor on the arch overhang, five stories up the twenty-story building.

"No disrespect to either of you, but I can't imagine being so depressed all the time… Espeon, work _is _depressing. I mean, I guess I don't know what he's doing right now, but if you ever need someone to hang with, I'm a fairly good trainer myself," Lucy smiled. She handed the bags off to a poor bellboy and told him where to deliver the bags before heading to her room. She had purchased a massive suite, having a seemingly endless amount of money. "Why don't you just stick with me tonight, Espeon? Let Gray stick by himself for a night. I've been enjoying having you around too much… We'll see him tomorrow, and I haven't had a chance to talk to a girl in so long. Plus, I bet I have a better place to stay the night!"

I smiled, voicing my agreement to Lucy. Gray was fine, but he was boring and dry. Lucy had been a great partner for the last few hours, and I relished the chance to spend more time with her.

"So, how about we get something to eat? A late snack would be great. I'm hungry," Lucy smiled, gesturing for me to join her.

* * *

_Thanks for reading and please take some time to review. Warmer moments aren't really a forte of mine, so advice and criticism is appreciated. As are all reviews._


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